iomart Group wins UK security award for cloud-based government computer child safety project

Netintelligence, the cloud security service from iomart Group, has won the title of Security Project of the Year at the inaugural UK Computing Security Awards.

The accolade was given to the company for its work in securing, and providing comprehensive parental controls on the 250,000 laptops distributed to families across England, under the government’s Home Access Scheme, designed to provide low-income families with internet access.

The awards, organised by UK publications Network Computing and Computing Security, were founded to honour the products and services that have made a positive contribution to the security of public and private organisations.

Bill Strain, Chief Technology Officer for iomart Group, said: “We consider winning such a prestigious award a great achievement. This award represents peer group recognition of Netintelligence’s important role in the evolving field of cloud based security solutions and our team’s ability to deliver complex projects within this arena”.

Strain added: “The project, which was delivered over a relatively short timeframe of six months, has been described as the most ambitious ever under taken in the field of UK home computing to date. The fact that the project was rolled out so successfully without any critical feedback being received from any quarter, is testament to the dedication and professionalism of the companies involved in its implementation.”

The Home Access Scheme was launched by the former Labour UK government, and managed by Becta, to provide practical and financial support to low-income families in England with the educational and social benefits of the internet.

Qualifying families were able to apply for a Home Access Grant to purchase a package consisting of a laptop, connectivity and support. Each package issued included pre-set parental controls and a version of the award-winning e-safety guide, Know IT All for Parents.

Netintelligence was selected by Becta’s approved suppliers, who included Misco, Comet, XMA and Centerprise, to provide the internet safety/parental control solution on every laptop distributed under the scheme.

The Netintelligence cloud-based managed service solutions enable resellers to deliver fully featured web-based security services to both business and consumers with no requirement for infrastructure investment. Services include enterprise web management and control, parental controls and email filtering and archiving.

Colin Riddle, Technical Operations Supervisor and Home Access Project Manager at Misco, explained: ”Netintelligence offered us a complete security solution exceeding the requirements of the Home Access programme with the support and features that we needed. Having a cloud security solution which complied with published guidelines was essential for us to meet the requirements of the Home Access programme. We needed a solution which not only met the requirements but also allowed us to deploy it easily and to support the end-users with powerful management features.

“The deployment of Netintelligence is based around the concept of imaging - this fitted perfectly with our existing fulfilment procedures and therefore we are able to smoothly integrate Netintelligence into our solutions.”

The award rounds off a fulfilling week for the iomart Group, which announced on Monday that it has acquired managed hosting company Titan Internet for £4.2 million cash.

About Netintelligence

Netintelligence is the cloud applications hosting brand of managed hosting and cloud services company iomart Group plc. Netintelligence – is leading the market in delivering web based fully managed, internet security services for consumers and businesses. Netintelligence offers the next generation of internet security products - the ’online’, or cloud, security service to IT resellers.Netintelligence automatically provides a wide range of critical security and protection features direct to an end users computer via the cloud.

The Home Access Scheme
The Home Access Scheme was launched in January 2010, as a government drive to help low-income families to get access to a computer and the internet to get online at home. Since launch, it has helped more than 250,000 families with children in Years 3 to 9 to get access to a home computer and/or broadband. Following a change in UK Government administration, the general scheme was formally closed in August 2010, and is now focusing on applications from families with children with disabilities or Special Educational Needs.Since the announcement of the scheme’s closure, there have been several calls for the coalition government to renew it.

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