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School district cuts costs, streamlines operations, and centralizes security infrastructure.

SEATTLE – September 19, 2013 — WatchGuard® Technologies, a leader in integrated security platforms, today announced that Cascade School District in Oregon has deployed WatchGuard XTM appliances across its five campus locations. Pushed by more demanding networking needs, challenges around BYOD, cloud and security compliance regulations, the district has transitioned away from aging standalone solutions to WatchGuard's Unified Threat Management (UTM) platform to consolidate security functionality.

By deploying WatchGuard XTM solutions, the district not only streamlines and simplifies the management of its security infrastructure and services, but will also save nearly $25,000 USD per year in annual fees and maintenance.

"The security landscape and challenges we face are constantly changing, especially with mobile devices, remote access and cloud technologies. Using point solutions to address all of these separate issues presents a management and maintenance nightmare for our small IT staff," said Michael King, network administrator for Cascade School District. "WatchGuard gives us everything we need with the ability to manage it all through one management UI. And, with its exceptional performance and flexibility, as our security needs grow, XTM can grow with us."

Cascade School District is leveraging most of the best-of-breed UTM security services on WatchGuard"s XTM platform, which includes URL Filtering, Application Control, AntiSpam, AntiVirus, DLP and IPS. This allows the IT team to meet emerging security challenges faced by the district, such as the explosion of mobile device usage by students and staff, application control for key educational and online resources, and streamlined remote access for staff.

"BYOD has been a big challenge and change for our network. Everyone has their own device, everyone wants to get online, so we are trying to deliver that functionality, while at the same time keeping it secure," King said. "Having WatchGuard enables us to ensure these devices are used properly as productivity tools. We also face new challenges around Application Control. And with WatchGuard, we can allow students to access the education resources needed, but block them from playing games or accessing inappropriate content."

The district"s IT team is also leveraging WatchGuard"s VPN functionality to allow staff and students remote access from home, and test driving the wireless Access Point (AP) devices, which will extend the best-of-breed UTM protection of the XTM to the WLAN. "We"re still deploying some of WatchGuard"s features," King said. "But with all the functionality in this platform, it"s dramatically simplifying our jobs."