The School District educates more than 19,000 students each day, from pre-K through 12th grade.

The ABC’s of Technology

The ABCs of technology have become pretty complex, no matter what it is and where it’s being deployed.

It needs to work, it needs to be stable and easy to manage, and as is the case with any school district, it needs to be budget friendly.

This school district, located in the Northeastern United States, certainly understood that.

The technology it was using in certain areas of the network was not getting the job done and the district wanted to raise the technology bar for maximum efficiency.

The Cisco solution they currently had deployed, which was supposed to help handle network traffic in a way that complies with its security policy, wasn’t living up to expectations.

The school district was challenged with the manageability of Cisco Firepower, and network visibility was lacking. They needed a new solution that would seamlessly integrate with their existing technology stack “and” be budget friendly.

In order to achieve this, the district turned to their Mainline Information Systems account manager who had worked with them for the better part of two decades.

When the school district inquired about a possible replacement to its Cisco gear, it wanted to learn about the top security manufacturers in the market. Working with the Mainline team to find the best solution that fit the school district’s needs, and after weeks of discussions and deep dives, the school district decided to move forward with Fortinet and the Fortinet Security Fabric. This platform offered increased benefits for their environment while allowing them to stay within budget.

Fortinet ranks number one in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and is trusted by more than 500,000 customers to protect their businesses.

The Mainline and Fortinet Partnership Brings A+ Results!

Mainline and Fortinet worked together to implement FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiWeb, Fortinet’s Web Application Firewall, and FortiAnalyzer, a powerful log management analytics and reporting platform.

Each Fortinet solution is part of the massive Fortinet Security Fabric that’s built on three key attributes.

1. The ability to detect threats and enforce security everywhere.
2. Closing of security gaps and increasing capacity.
3. Enabling faster time-to-prevention and efficient operations.

The results, according to Dave Flanagan, Mainline’s account manager for the project, have been very successful.

Flanagan says the district has gone from a complex network that frequently experienced poor operational performance to a more simplified, stable, secure network, that is easier to use, and fits within their budget.

Flanagan adds, “By leveraging Mainline & Fortinet professional services, this school district is now completely on the Fortinet platform and utilizing Fortinet’s Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture.”