A solution that would watch over students, staff and technology

The University of Missouri - Kansas City in the United Sates is one of four campuses associated with that state's premier public university. With more than 14,000 full- and part-time students, it is experiencing record enrolments and demand for its services. One of the reasons for its success is its Ideal Learning Environment initiative: all classrooms are equipped with the technology deemed necessary to support a given subject or class. The equipment ranges from VCRs to document cameras to internet-connected computers equipped with a wealth of applications, and more.

Like any entity, private or public, the university needed a way to protect its investment in technology. It had recently spent nearly US$750,000 for state-of-the-art media teaching tools, including digital projectors costing some US$5000 each. The problem, said Tom Brenneman, CIO at the school, was that this equipment was walking away. Parts of the campus are located in high-crime areas, yet the school's doors must be open when students are available.

The university needed a solution that would watch over the university's classrooms and other student areas like lounges and hallways in a way that would help students and staff stay safe and secure, while at the same time protecting the technology inside those rooms. It also had to be inexpensive, effective, simple to implement and use, and not too hard on the university's limited bandwidth.

Brenneman also needed a solution that would monitor the technology infrastructure, including the main data centre, so that he and his staff could be alerted to any environmental factors that could lead to network down time, data loss or damage to equipment. These conditions included extreme temperatures, wide swings in humidity and water leaks. Moreover, the solution needed to provide surveillance capabilities.

The NetBotz deployment at the university started with installation of a dozen NetBotz appliances and NetBotz Central, which consolidates all information from NetBotz appliances across the campus and displays it anywhere via a browser. However, the NetBotz appliances were so effective that the university has since purchased more than 500 so far, and it continues buying them. When there is a problem, NetBotz notifies campus personnel instantly via phone, email, pager or SNMP Trap.

Just four months after deployment, the NetBotz system notified the AV Technology Group of three separate instances where equipment was being stolen or borrowed from classrooms. Because the appliances digitally recorded the activity, the group was quickly able to determine who was in the room and what equipment was taken. The university quickly and easily tracked down the individuals and recovered the equipment, valued at about US$25,000.

"The NetBotz appliances and surveillance software serves as our eyes and ears across campus, protecting millions of dollars of equipment from being damaged or stolen 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Brenneman. "But the real bonus is that it can protect people too. Campus police are real believers now."

He said campus police report that their investigation process for thefts and other crimes has, in many cases, been reduced to as little as 20 minutes versus days and weeks.

"This is saving a tremendous amount of time and, therefore, money," said Brenne-man. "Our support people are a lot more efficient because of this."

He also likes the unified view provided by NetBotz Central, which provides 24/7 information on equipment and environmental metrics - power consumption, temperature, humidity, airflow and water leaks.

"Now," said Brenneman, "we've got a single view of security breaches and any problems in places like server rooms, which can prevent equipment failure."