Comtact named on prestigious Jisc framework for Cyber Security web filtering and monitoring

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Millions of users of the Janet network can now benefit from Comtact’s proactive cyber security solutions

Comtact, one of the UK’s leading cyber security and infrastructure management service providers to Education, is pleased to announce the availability of its services through the Jisc framework.

Jisc manages the Janet network, a high-speed network for the UK research and education community. Serving millions of users, the Janet network is one of the largest computer networks in the World, providing UK research and education with a highly reliable and secure, state-of-the-art network, enabling national and international communication and collaboration.

Jisc selected Comtact following a rigorous OJEU competitive tender process. As one of only a handful of companies approved by the framework in the UK for web monitoring and filtering services, Comtact will now be able to offer education bodies cyber security solutions in a simplified and more cost-effective way.

With millions of network users accessing Janet every day and spanning 800 education and research organisations, it was vital the chosen solution could meet their requirements to comply with the government’s Prevent legislation. The scope of the framework covers all higher education institutions and specialist colleges within the UK.  The framework will operate for an initial two years with Jisc having the option to extend for a further two thereafter.

Nelson Ody, Applied network services manager at Jisc said, “In response to the government’s Prevent anti-terrorism strategy, we anticipated the need to offer our members a wider range of web filtering and monitoring solutions to suit their organisation’s changing needs and requirements.  Our members can now easily find a web filtering and monitoring solution that’s tailored to their organisation’s strategy through our multi-supplier framework.  Comtact has been selected following a rigorous OJEU procurement process, offering our members greater choice and flexibility.”

Dominic List, Chairman of Comtact says, “We are delighted to be selected as a supplier to Jisc for Cyber Security web filtering and monitoring in line with the government’s Prevent legislation. I believe this reflects our focus and commitment to the sector. Comtact is already one of the leading providers in the UK for IT services to the education sector to safeguard their critical networks and data and to enhance the student experience, and with next-generation security solutions, this will increase our reach further still.”

Dominic continues, “Over the last few years the challenge of delivering best practice network performance across the broader university campus has become more and more complex. Many students regularly use up to three personal devices – laptop, smartphone, tablet – and as a result university networking teams are faced with the balancing act of supporting upwards of 75,000 user devices concurrently while still fulfilling user safeguarding and security measures such as Prevent. This is not an easy task. One of the reasons Comtact was selected for the Jisc framework is that our proven Virtual NOC infrastructure management service, Aurora365, is already being used successfully by several leading UK education institutions and is ideally positioned to help colleges and universities extend their infrastructure coverage to address cyber security. Comtact’s national reach, combined with our fully managed security portfolio delivered from our UK 24×7×365 Security Operation Centre (SOC) in our Tier 3 data centre, allows us to provide such comprehensive security solutions. This capability enables our clients to assess and proactively manage risk, lower their total cost of ownership, and strengthen their overall security posture.”