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Budget Is King

Ten features your budget will agree with

Budget is a key challenge, so how are schools working with us to bring in Content Keeper in a way that accommodates your budget and your board of trustees? They know that the below features for a K-12 web filter are absolutely important but most of all, indispensable for any school to have…

A multi-platform web filtering solution that provides the same user experience regardless of device, browser, or location.
Granular, policy-based control over social media sites and popular domains.
Transparent user authentication, so administrators know who is using the network at all times—and users don’t have to navigate a login screen.
Reliable SSL inspection at multi-gig speeds across all devices and web browsers.
Application management and visibility, so administrators can control and block apps that students use to circumvent web filtering.
Real-time monitoring, analytics and alerting to proactively prevent bullying, self-harm, and other harmful behaviors.
Comprehensive, enterprise-class reporting that identifies and details specific users and subdomains.
Real-time video whitelisting and LMS integration.
Scalability and ease of implementation.
Highly responsive service and support.

Ensuring instruction content is safely delivered is our passion at MicroShare.

No school will be left out due to budget constraints! Content Keeper has Education focused pricing, fiscal year phase-in pricing AND Education approved multi-annual financing. If you want to explore each of these features in more detail and understand better why it should be considered a critical element of any K-12 web filtering solution, please view the white paper: Ten ‘Must-Have” Features of a K-12 Web Filter. It’s truly freeing what Content Keeper can do in this encrypted world.

Is Cloud Filtering Really Secure?

There is a big push in the industry to move K-12 to the cloud, but why?

By now you have likely been solicited to take a look at a Cloud solution for filtering. Perhaps you are using one of these solutions now. Regardless, there is a big push in the industry to move K12 to the cloud, but why? The value point of moving to the cloud is clear: no on-prem hardware. But after that the benefits get harder to see. Is the move to cloud filtering cutting edge or a step back??

Let us show you how ContentKeeper is addressing this question and proving to present an answer that many schools are suggesting

Is ContentKeeper providing a better and more secure product for the sake of K12 filtering in an encrypted world?

We believe that cloud filtering comes with a list of 5 major concerns: SSL Decryption, BYOD, Device type, Browser type and the hassle of managing agents on all endpoints.

What you get with the ContentKeeper Experience:

No need to manage clients on all of your endpoints, i.e. BYOD is filtered in the same manner as district owned devices
The location of your devices doesn’t matter. Whether on or off prem, your users will have the same experience
No limitation on what types of devices you can successfully have – iPad, chromebook, Laptop, MAC, it doesn’t matter. All of these devices, on or off prem, are filtered the same
No Browser limitations- Chrome, Yahoo, Bing, Safari, FireFox, etc… you can use them all
Best of all, easy to deploy SSL decryption. No empty promises of this one day having this work for the sake of Google, Youtube, Google Translate etc. with ContentKeeper this is set up for you during the PoC/pilot

Q&A with a Rio Grande valley School of 18,000 students

One of our customers told us that Content Keeper has been very impressive in performing what they need it to do. We got a chance to ask them more about it and here is what they had to say…

How is your overall experience with the product Content Keeper?

Content Keeper, once tailored to our needs, has been an invaluable addition to our arsenal of security devices. We’ve not only been able to streamline our policy base, but we’ve also managed to finally selectively decrypt SSL traffic and strengthen our security posture.

How is your overall experience with support for Content Keeper?

Support has been great, with none of our requests going unanswered for an unreasonable amount of time.

Content Keeper claims that with them SSL decryption is their specialty. How has your SSL decryption been with Content Keeper to date?

To date, we’ve been able to selectively decrypt traffic, giving us more visibility into critical traffic when problems arise.

Google, YouTube, Facebook, typical encrypted applications and data are hard for most URL filtering products to manage. How has your experience been with Content Keeper managing these types of applications?

Content Keeper’s built in “Web 2.0 Controls” feature, has given us way more granular control over many popular sites.

How true is this quote to your experience with Content Keeper compared to previously used content filters you have used?

In my experience, the quote is very accurate in describing what Content Keeper brings to the table. Content Keeper’s approach in deployment through stages ensures a smooth transition. We were able to customize our device for our environment and modify as needed along the way. After having been with our previous filter for several years we wanted to lessen the growing pains that come with any new product and Content Keeper helped us accomplish that. We are still molding it to meet our needs, but I am confident it can handle anything we throw at it.

Related to MicroShare, how would you say our firm has performed bringing your district products?

When it’s time to look for an upgrade to our existing products, MicroShare is always on top of the latest and greatest being offered in IT security.

MicroShare rep support?

I’ve always known they are just a phone call away and there is great comfort in that. MicroShare has not only been able to provide us with best-in-breed products, their support goes on long after the sale. In my experience most IT companies operate with a “sell it and forget it” type of mentality. Louis’ personal attention to detail and customer satisfaction is a testament to why he is trusted and respected. Add to that Myles’ in depth knowledge of the products he has personally tested and can vouch for and you’ve got a great team. From sales to service and beyond, Louis and his entire team are tough to beat!

Any other comments you want to share?

No complaints here… a pleasure doing business with you.

Big News – MicroShare and Schools Are Partnering with a NEW Solution

Our Microshare Team so appreciates our School Customers and trust our customers have in our firm to provide the very best in cybersecurity solutions.

In 2018, our firm started a campaign offering a NEW Next Generation URL Filtering Solution – Content Keeper.

After dozens of onsite evaluations (over 20) and customer testing, 100% of every school that tested Content Keeper from MicroShare purchased it.

Since we aligned our URL filtering offering to schools with Content Keeper last year, the feedback we have been receiving from schools that have deployed it has been exceptional. (we have references we can share)

The key feedback that is making all the difference in each School Customer we have talked to is summed up below

Content Keeper works right out of the box

With key features shown in the web demonstration

SSL decryption really works

So YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Google Apps and most previously difficult application content that was hard to get to is now available for instruction and is safe

All key features including SSL decryption was setup immediately

Unlike other solutions that required a lot of effort and time

Technical Support is better than any support ever used

With dozens of products used by schools, Content Keeper’s technical support is by far the best experienced

Mobile device both BYOD and district owned is filtered easily

As compared to many products that tout Cloud Filtering requiring agents and not offering a consistent filter experience

Read what two different school technologists wrote about Content Keeper and MicroShare after using the product for 8 months

I have used many content filtering solutions in my career in technology for schools. With Content Keeper I can honestly say that is by far the best URL filtering product I have ever seen. What was a daily meeting with my staff seeking to get our previous filter solutions working, is now maybe a twice a week meeting. Thank you MicroShare for introducing us to Content Keeper. —Technology Director of a Houston based School District

When I joined our school team in fall of 2017, I assumed my primary task was going to involve a daily support call with our precious content filter because that what it took to keep it working correctly. After we implemented Content Keeper, I no longer had to work daily on URL filtering. It was implemented and worked right out of the box. Now when I contact support, it is for customizing our filtering features. I can’t say enough about the quality support we receive with Content Keeper. Absolutely top-notch. With our working relationship with MicroShare and Content Keeper, I now provide quality technology security in all aspects of my role. —Security Analyst of a Houston based School District

Since MicroShare’s entry into providing School District Cybersecuity in 2001, our firm has been committed to providing the best solutions available. As quoted in our Value Data Sheet

The Value Rule #1: The Customer Experience - is it good or is it bad? If anything with our customer is less than great, then we bring the experience up to “Great” level.

If you are reading this, call us.

If you have not called us yet, we will be reaching out to you as well.

We look forward to serving you and your district for a dynamic 2019 and for years to come.

BYOD And Mobile Devices

How to make access and usage truly manageable again

As more and more smart devices flood our society, the challenge of managing who and when internet access happens, what data content is available, while protecting the privacy of personal smart phones and tablets is a real challenge. The key is in user identity and effective control of access that aligns with the technology department policies. Even with the myriad of devices, operating systems and applications, hope is available.

One of the things that has become apparent through customers who are leaving our competition is that they are sold on features but the vendors are not sharing the fact that these features only work on some platforms/browsers. Therefore, students have to then log in, then login to other services or are limited to certain browsers. Additionally, not all of the features work on all platforms. This is a strength of CK as all of our filtering is done at the gateway with the same technology regardless of device type or browser.

KNOWN CHALLENGES

Accurate, seamless user identification both on and off site
iPads
Chromebooks
Windows
Consistency across platforms and browsers:
- Desired features work regardless of device or browser type
- The same user experience both on and off site
Keyword/Search Phrase blocking, reporting and alerting not limited to Chrome or Google but work across all search engines.