Lawrence Township Public Schools Chooses OpenDNS for Secure and Consistent Web Content Filtering on Laptops Taken Home by Students

San Francisco, Calif (PRWEB) August 6, 2010

OpenDNS, the world's largest and fastest-growing provider of Internet navigation and security services that make networks safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced Lawrence Township Public Schools has deployed OpenDNS's cloud-based recursive DNS service for remote Web content filtering on student laptops. Located in Lawrence, NJ, just north of the capital city of Trenton, the Lawrence Township Public Schools oversees six campus locations.

The district turned to OpenDNS after Lawrence Intermediate School (LIS) began a program for sixth graders called Talent 21. "The Talent 21 Program involves a 1:1 laptop initiative to give every 6th grader a laptop for use at home and at school," explained LIS Technician Dan O'Boyle. While students were protected by LIS' existing Web content filtering when using their laptops at school, once the students took their laptops home, the network-based filtering that the school had on campus was no longer being applied. As a result, students were accessing content on school-issued computers at home that was blocked at school.

Based on recommendations from administrators, O'Boyle chose to set up OpenDNS on each student laptop. Many of the students' home networks had dynamic IP addresses, but O'Boyle was able to install the OpenDNS dynamic IP client on each computer to ensure the filtering service operated consistently and protected students as their laptops were moved around.

OpenDNS is the only Web content filtering solution that allows network administrators to centrally-manage settings for all student laptops over the Web. The OpenDNS Nomad IP tool was created especially for SysAdmins who issue computers to their users (or students) and want them to be protected when they aren't on the default network. O'Boyle uses Nomad, in conjunction with the OpenDNS Dynamic IP updater to get each student set up. "Managing networks for every student would be a nightmare with out dynamic network adding and the Nomad IP Tool," he said.

Now that OpenDNS is configured on each laptop, the school can rest assured that content filtering is applied both on campus and off. "We hope to use OpenDNS to provide content filtering, in combination with parent supervision, to keep kids safe anywhere they use their laptop," said O'Boyle.

About OpenDNS
OpenDNS is the world's leading provider of Internet navigation and security services that make networks safer, faster, smarter and more reliable. Through DNS resolution, cloud-based Web content filtering and security services, OpenDNS empowers millions of households, schools and businesses to control how users navigate the Internet on their network, while dramatically increasing the network's overall performance and reliability. For more information about OpenDNS, please visit: http://www.opendns.com

About Lawrence Township Public Schools
Lawrence Township Public Schools is a Pre-K through 12 public school district located in Mercer County in central New Jersey, just north of the state's capital, Trenton. Its mission is to provide extraordinary learning for all students and to foster their proficiency in the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards at all grade levels.

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