Integrated Recorded Announcement (IRA)

iPrism - Internet Access Management

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iPrism® is the Internet access management solution of choice used by Information Technology and Human Resource professionals to help enforce an Internet Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) within an organization. Winner of the coveted CRN Magazine "Editors' Choice" Award, iPrism is a hardware appliance that monitors, filters and reports on inappropriate Internet access within businesses, schools and government agencies.

Decreases Legal Liability Risk
"70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the 9-to-5 workday." (SexTracker) Avoid hostile environments by filtering pornography, prejudicial and violent websites.

Increases Employee Productivity
"Companies lose up to $3,000 per year per employee due to non-business related Internet activity." (IDC Research)

Minimizes Network Bandwidth Drain
Protect precious bandwidth by limiting access to high bandwidth sites such as those offering downloadable MP3 files, chat, games and instant messaging as well as bandwidth intensive services such as streaming media.

Offers the Best URL Database
By using a 100% human-reviewed rating system, the millions of sites within iPrism's 60-category database make it the most accurate in the industry. Your subscription includes automatic, daily database updates.

Best Choice for Educational Esablishments

The iPrism Internet filtering appliance is the perfect solution for both small schools and large districts. iPrism was originally marketed and sold to educational institutions and continues to maintain product capabilities ideal for this environment. Network administrators will appreciate the ease of installation, lack of conflicts with your existing network and detailed customizable reports.

2003 Educational Choice Award for Internet Filtering

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ's)

WHAT IS iPRISM?

iPrism is the Internet access management solution of choice used by Information Technology and Human Resource professionals. A winner of the coveted PC Magazine Editors' Choice award, iPrism is a hardware appliance that monitors, filters and reports on inappropriate Internet access. iPrism offers superior interoperability, flexibility, and a suite of customization features that no other Internet access management appliance or software solution can match. It easily and securely manages Web access without requiring additions to workstations, servers, firewalls or other network components.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FEATURES OF V3.3?

• Industry's best URL database - Each and every website in the 60-category database is reviewed by human eyes, leading to the most accurate database in the industry.
  
  
• Database customization - Use the 8 customizable categories to create your own categories, add sites to the database, and exempt sites from the database.
  
  
• Flexible enforcement options - Create unique filtering and monitoring policies by time of day, day of week, category, users, and groups.
  
  
• Real-time e-mail alerts - Set e-mail alerts for notification when certain URLs are accessed or when bandwidth or time thresholds have been reached.
  
  
• Remote management - Securely administer iPrism via any workstation with a browser.
  
  
• Comprehensive reporting - Generate management style reporting for summary and detailed analysis of your organization's Web surfing habits.
  
  
• Support for NT User Groups - Assign profiles to users based on the NT groups they belong to.
  
  
• Support for LDAP - Assign profiles to users based on LDAP (Windows 2000, Active Directory, Novell and Unix systems) attributes.
  
  
• Auto-Login feature - Allows administrators to apply filtering policies and view reports on a per-user basis without requiring users to authenticate.

HOW DOES THE NEW AUTO-LOGIN FEATURE WORK?

By using Auto-Login, administrators can apply filtering policies and view reports on a per-user basis without requiring users to authenticate.

Auto-Login is an extension of the IP-mapped authentication scheme. The authentication still relies on an IP address-to-user mapping, in which the session length is controlled by a timeout.

The authentication phase is automated. Instead of prompting the user for their account information (domain name and user name) and password, the account information is obtained from the workstation logon credentials.

The credentials are obtained using the Client Side NTLM authentication scheme, also known as Integrated Windows Authentication. This is a secure authentication scheme designed by Microsoft. User's credentials are not passed in clear text, but use a challenge/response mechanism involving the browser, iPrism, and the domain controller. Although this mechanism is transparent this authentication scheme relies on a full authentication phase.

iPrism will be able to authenticate any Windows workstation whose user is logged into a domain in which iPrism is also a trusted member.

If the Auto-Login phase is not successful (e.g. NTLM domain unreachable, incompatible browser), iPrism will revert to the manual authentication interface and ask the user for their credentials.

WHY IS iPRISM BETTER THAN SOFTWARE-ONLY SOLUTIONS?

There are many reasons why iPrism is better than software-based solutions:

1) There is no additional hardware or software to purchase, install, or manage. iPrism does not require additions to workstations, servers, firewalls or other network components.

2) iPrism provides automatic operating system and application software updates. Software solutions force their customers to download and install any patches, upgrades, etc.

3) Since iPrism includes both hardware and software, there is only one vendor to contact for support. Software solutions may require multiple vendor contacts depending on the issue.

4) iPrism is platform independent and works in virtually any environment. This allows iPrism to easily adapt to changing network equipment. Software vendors may not work in certain platforms or network equipment and do not easily adapt to change.

5) Much lower total cost of ownership.

DO YOU BLOCK WEB SITES BY IP ADDRESS?

No. iPrism filters by full URL names and includes the ability to block top level directories while allowing subdirectories for maximum flexibility and precision control. URL-based filtering is required to properly handle virtual Web site hosting. Since many ISPs host multiple Web sites on the same server, products that block based only upon IP address will incorrectly block every site on the hosted Web server, even though some sites do not contain inappropriate content.

WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE ENTERS AN IP ADDRESS TO ACCESS A SITE?

iPrism will automatically detect IP address entry and properly handle them as if the site had been entered by URL name

CAN USERS CIRCUMVENT iPRISM FILTERING?

No. In the recommended configuration, iPrism controls all network traffic to and from the Internet. Any attempts to bypass the filter are blocked and logged as an access violation.

ARE USER OVERRIDE PRIVILEGES SUPPORTED?

Yes. When a user tries to access a blocked Web site, a message indicating that access was denied is displayed instead of the requested page. This page allows users with override privileges to enter a password for immediate access to the requested Web site.

HOW DO I RECEIVE SOFTWARE UPDATES?

You may select to have software updates automatically downloaded and applied to your iPrism or manually apply software updates when you choose. Automatic software updates are performed without any user intervention.

DOES iPRISM OFFER REPORTING?

Yes. In addition to proactive filtering and blocking of inappropriate Internet access, iPrism provides full monitoring and logging of all successful and unsuccessful Internet accesses, giving your organization a complete profile of user activity. Comprehensive reporting is built into the iPrism appliance and is included at no extra charge.

WHAT IF I ONLY WANT TO MONITOR INTERNET ACCESS?

You can determine on a category-by-category basis whether you want to monitor access, block access, do both or do neither. When monitoring, reports are available allowing you to show detailed site-by-site access or summary reports showing what content categories are accessed by which users.

HOW SECURE IS iPRISM?

iPrism is the most secure filtering solution available. All database and software updates are sent via a secure connection. We utilize SSL to provide secure authentication of users. Usernames and passwords are encrypted. In addition, the operating system has been optimized for web filtering and "hardened" against attacks.

CAN I CHANGE THE WAY A SITE IS CATEGORIZED?

Yes. You may change the categorization for any Web site by adding a new rating for the site. Your site rating will always override the ratings in the master Web site database.

For a technical consultant to call you click here and they will do so at the time you specify. If you are looking for a quotation or need help designing your solution then click here. If you require access to our SECURE online catalogue then click here.