Axial Systems gets the NAC for college

VAR installs NAC for Taunton-based college to cope with growing number of USB devices and iPhones

Flexible working: Students at Richard Huish college will have secure endpoints

VAR Axial Systems has completed a Network Access Control (NAC) installation at Richard Huish College in Taunton.

The installation of ForeScout’s CounterAct NAC product, was in response to a rise in the number of USB devices and iPhones on the college’s campus network. The college has some 2,000 students each year supported by 250 staff.

Bill Perry, IT services manager at Richard Huish College, said: “In early 2009 we were looking for a solution to three security concerns – the near ubiquity of USB devices and iPhones joining our network, concern over unknown endpoints joining our new wireless network and the risk of staff laptop computers becoming infected with a virus picked up when used at home.

“IT buying cycles are usually lengthy here, but CounterACT was fast to prove itself during evaluation, so we purchased the product fairly quickly. CounterAct will vastly reduce the risk of our network being taken down by viruses and zero-day threats, and help mitigate against the introduction of USB and iPhone borne malware – which gives us peace of mind.

Perry added: “More importantly it helps to keep the college running and we needed something to help monitor and control our network 24/7, especially when IT staff may not be around.”

Peter Thompson, account manager at Axial, said: “Richard Huish College found that ForeScout’s CounterAct made it very easy to monitor what is on the network. This increased visibility allows them to determine exactly where each device is located and provides information on security updates for each endpoint.”