Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the It Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
SPIT committee recommends board approve switch from Palo Alto to Lightspeed firewall/filter solution
Summary
The committee recommended the full board approve replacing the current Palo Alto firewall/filter with a Lightspeed solution; staff said the switch will unify on‑site and off‑site filtering, improve reporting and reduce costs.
Union County Public Schools technology staff told the SPIT Committee on Feb. 26 they recommend replacing the district’s current Palo Alto firewall/filter solution with Lightspeed and asked the committee to forward the purchase to the full board for approval.
Mr. Parker presented the procurement rationale and a cost figure. "We're changing our firewall provider from one we're currently using is Palo Alto. It's $120,000," Parker said, and placed supporting documents in the meeting materials.
Staff said the proposed change would align the district's on‑site filtering with the state's off‑site Lightspeed filtering used when students are away from district networks. Parker said Lightspeed provides a more usable administrative console and more robust reporting that facilitates investigations and filtering decisions. He added the vendor’s reporting produces structured data rather than the long Excel exports the district currently receives from the Palo Alto console.
The committee discussed the recommendation and then voted to recommend the purchase to the full board for approval. A motion and second were recorded and the motion passed by voice vote; committee members asked staff to include the item in the March board packet for formal approval.
