Mineola School District chose Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess SafeGuard to efficiently protect faculty and student information

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced the successful deployment of its new OmniAccess SafeGuard security solution by the Mineola Union Free School District of Mineola, New York. Concerned about potential security risks to its computer records and communications network, Mineola selected the OmniAccess SafeGuard as the most cost-effective, feature-rich security solution to meet its needs.

Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniAccess SafeGuard, based on award-winning technology from ConSentry Networks, allows the Mineola School District to protect confidentiality of internal resources using policy-based access control, restricting access to particular information only to its set of authorized users. The level of access allowed to guest computers on campus is also controlled, and access to particular websites can be blocked campus-wide. In addition, the School District is better positioned to comply with new regulations such as FERPA (Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act).

Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniAccess SafeGuard addresses key IT requirements such as network admission control (NAC), guest access, identity based network access and malware control, and since it is an overlay solution, OmniAccess SafeGuard causes minimal disruption and modification of existing infrastructure.

“The OmniAccess SafeGuard gives our district greater auditing capability to track ‘who did what’ and protect from unauthorized access,” said Dr. Michael Nagler, Deputy Superintendent at Mineola. “We found that the Alcatel-Lucent solution was easier to implement and manage, was more robust in its reporting capabilities and offered a better overall value. Plus, it was compatible with our existing infrastructure. We avoided any unnecessary major network upgrades.”

“School districts realize the need to protect the confidentiality of student, faculty and administrative records while supporting the real-time communications that encourage creative learning,” added Tom Burns, president of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Solution activities. “Protecting critical information has become increasingly complex, and the OmniAccess SafeGuard allows IT departments to stay ahead of the daily security threats to their network. We are pleased that Mineola School District has selected Alcatel-Lucent for its network security.”