Cognita Gets Complete Network Solution from 365iT Services

Comprising fifty-four schools across the UK, Europe and South-East Asia which employ some 3,500 teaching and support staff actively dealing with over 15,800 pupils, the Cognita group relies on a complex global data network.

One of the organisation's key operational requirements is to connect students and faculty seamlessly plus gives them full peace of mind in terms of IT security.

Cognita needed a complete solution to ensure their network was given both robust protection and a streamlined operational capacity by connecting their many sites to their Head Office and establishing peer networks between each school.

The group settled on tried and tested UK company 365iT Services as their provider, who after a thorough review of Cognita's sophisticated requirements, proposed the Watchguard United Threat Management (UTM) strategy.

This would allow for a range of security issues to be effectively addressed through a single solution. Cognita was thus able to set, manage and report on Firewall, Anti-Virus and Intrusion Prevention policies for their entire international business.

Group IT Director of Cognita, Andrew Savin, commented: "We reviewed a number of alternatives and the cost and performance argument was very strong in favour of the Watchguard solution proposed by 365iT… [they] offered a complete service including installation, configuration, training and support, which has been instrumental in the success of the project."

In addition to their full cycle network solution, 365iT Services also addressed the increasing vulnerability of centrally managed services that support global operations when it comes to email security threats.

They achieved this through a Cloud-based offering which utilised a combination of the Mimecast anti-spam software and an email archiving solution, with Webroot web security providing enhanced protection against the rising surge of web-based threats which organisations now face on a daily basis.

This strategy meant that all Cognita users throughout the world could be effectively protected by a centralised, well-managed email and web security policy.

Mr Savin concluded: "None of the other solutions on the market delivered the same integrated solution that Cognita where looking for and which 365iT delivered."

This unified yet tailored approach implemented by 365iT Services also provided the flexibility and scalability that is essential for the Cognita educational group to achieve their global expansion goals.