ISONet Secures School Broadband

By Greg McNevin

February 22, 2008: Responding to the Labor government’s ‘digital education revolution’ and an increase in school IT security issues, managed security services provider earthwave has launched ISONet, a carrier neutral network, internet gateway and portal.

ISONet (Independent Schools Online Network) is a secure Wide Area Network initiative developed by earthwave in conjunction with the Association of Independent Schools NSW (AIS).

The company says the project has been designed to provide schools with access to secure high quality broadband data services, internet resources and managed security. So far the system has been deployed in more than 50 schools, and according to earthwave, has seen the average student usage rise from 15Mb per month to over 200Mb.

With $1 billion in extra funding promised by the government with its ‘one computer per child’ initiative, this rate looks like it could score a hefty increase over the next four years.

“The rise in computer usage and increase in classroom activity performed on the web can be directly correlated with the increase in risk of exposure to malware and other harmful material,” says Carlo Minassian, founder and CEO of earthwave.

“At the moment ISONet blocks up to 60% of traffic bound for schools as it is unsolicited and about 85% of email traffic is blocked at ISONet because it is spam.”

Earthwave says ISONet also provides access for secure sharing of education resources within the network, enabling video conferencing, vastly improving distance education and collaboration.

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