Ramesys provides product or services to over 17,000 schools, through framework contracts, and is a leading ICT partner in the government’s Building Schools for the Future and Academies programmes (BSF). Educational establishments participating in the scheme, that have already deployed Stonesoft technology include schools in Manchester City Council and the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
Stonesoft technology - including its flagship StoneGate appliance providing firewall, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), ISP load balancing for continuous availability, remote access, and managed services - is being deployed by Ramesys to provide schools with ICT infrastructures built on choice as well as cost efficiencies. Under the terms of the agreement, Ramesys will provide security and network continuity technology and managed services to schools under the BSF project.
Managed services let schools focus their resources on their core educational efforts, whilst enjoying advanced IT security and high-availability network infrastructures, at a cost effective price. The remote and centralised management services included in StoneGate also allow schools to have 24/7 IT support and troubleshooting, without having to worry about dealing with increasingly complex IT systems. When installing the systems, schools can choose to outsource the entire implementation to Ramesys or involve their own technicians to undertake a joint implementation. Ongoing support can range from basic helpdesk support through to comprehensive remote management of entire IT infrastructures
The deployments can also involve multi-site implementations where a central infrastructure hosts core functions such as firewall, switches, router, backup, virus protection, remote updates, content hosting and remote access. This type of central hosting model provides cost-savings as well as flexibility to schools to use the services as they require.
Further IT services provided to the schools include infrastructure remote monitoring and management services, desktop management, hardware maintenance and application service provision, where applications are hosted and managed from Ramesys’s secure data centre facility; this extends to a complete range of remote hosting and disaster recovery services.
Chris Bignall, head of solutions development at Ramesys said: “We chose to partner with Stonesoft because of the company’s expertise in the public sector and for the flexibility of its products. We work with schools that have a variety of IT needs and require different levels of IT support. The StoneGate technology can accommodate both remote and on-site management. It is also the most adequately priced solution on the market for this type of implementation.”
Ash Patel, UK and Ireland country manager said: “Stonesoft is proud of its partnership with Ramesys and honoured to support the BSF programme through this partnership.”