Mainstream Digital has been a supplier to the Education sector for over 30 years. We understand the challenges and pressures schools are facing.
We are that ONE SUPPLIER that can help you address ALL of the recommendations
from the DfE.
Mainstream Digital offers a consultative approach to provide schools with a total solution
that meets their needs while keeping within budget. We know that a one-size-fits-all
approach isn’t right for most schools. As a result, we are working with over 100 schools.
As a managed services provider, we specialise in supplying telephony solutions, including
onsite VOIP, hosted systems, and compatibility with legacy systems, as well as IT and
Cyber Threat mitigation services.
Our team of DBS checked specialists in the Education sector would be delighted to offer a
no-obligation review. Please contact us to arrange.
In today’s digital age, technology has become an integral part of the education system.
Mainstream can help UK schools to develop and implement a future-proofed IT infrastructure through the Department for Education’s Connect the Classroom initiative.
Connectivity is a crucial aspect of the education system. The ability to access information and communicate with others is essential for students to learn and develop their skills. Mainstream Digital has been a supplier of technology solutions, strategies, and support to the schools sector for nearly 30 years and are well placed to assist you with the Connect the Classroom initiative.
During the Covid pandemic the DfE supplied tens of thousands of laptops and tablets to pupils so they could continue their education remotely and safely. Those endpoints have since returned back to schools adding increased pressure on school networks.
Connect the classroom is a WiFi 6 initiative, funded by the Department of Education (DfE) to address this issue. This future thinking initiative will fund new Access Points, LAN switches and fibre cabling to enhance the pupil learning experience, and drawing on an approved list of hardware that your chosen supplier can implement for you.
MSP Services – a multifaceted service to address the DfE Initiatives
Schools and colleges should provide a safe environment to learn and work, including when online. Filtering and monitoring are both important parts of safeguarding pupils and staff from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material. It is important to use a supplier partner than can help you with all aspect of the provision of content filtering, as outlined in “Technical Requirements to meet the standard” as found here. Mainstream Technology can help you with this and with the implementation of leading content Filtering solutions such as Smoothwall.
Schools, colleges and academies have particular requirements and Mainstream has accumulated many years of experience in working in these environments, and this has shaped the types of offerings which we can deliver to our education customers. Standard offerings such as desktop and server support, hardware and software configuration, software support, network monitoring and support (and of course any aspect of your telephony and connectivity) are available as ad hoc, time- and-materials based offerings through to annual agreements for support and maintenance, with a surprising amount of creative and flexible options in between – aimed at providing the most effective and best value for money offering to your staff and organisation.
Mainstream School Services – SchoolTech
MSP Services – Practical IT services to help you on a day-to-day basis
Good practice in network installation including the design and installation, can reap significant benefits in terms of performance and reliability. Mainstream has many years of successful implementation behind us and all of the expertise to implement, support or remediate any issues you have with your network.
The initiatives driven by the DfE are quite extensive and relate also to broadband connectivity. Mainstream are perfectly position to provide competitive and reliable solutions to your connectivity requirements, and at all times, taking into consideration the requirements of different types of school establishment, and looking for the most cost effective and sympathetic approach to the problems. With our team of CRB checked technical staff, we are equipped to work in a school environment, and to offer a free audit of your services and comparison costs to see if we can save you money.
We also understand the types of usage required by School establishments and the telephony cover required. Mainstream can be very creative in the provision of solutions to deliver your requirements within the constraints of your organisation and budget. Whether it be on site telephone systems or hosted telephony. This is particularly important when you consider the BT enforced shift from existing copper based telephony solutions (PSTN, ISDN etc) to internet based telephony which is underway.
On Site Telephone System Maintenance
Sweating the asset – bringing your phone system into the 21st century
We find ourselves in a time of political and economic turmoil and the threat to organisations of any size, of suffering from a cyber attack is greater than ever. Today no organisation, whatever its size, is safe from the effects of Cyber Crime. The annual report by international insurance group Hiscox, published in May 2022, noted broadly similar views across the EU, the USA, Australia and the UK.
The pandemic itself may well have played its part in creating this scenario as more than three out of five respondents (62%) agree that their business was more vulnerable to an attack as a result of users working from home. The move to remote working has prompted many smaller organisations to adopt cloud solutions in preference to implementing their own remote services. That, in turn, has encouraged more cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in cloud applications and target cloud service providers too.
The median cost of attacks has doubled to £24,000 and the data also reveals a worryingly strong upward trend. And it’s not the big companies who are most at risk as it’s the same ratio of incidents amongst local authorities and education.
Cyber protection for your school can be achieved with Mainstream’s Security as a Service using a UK based SOC (Security Operations Centre) that to date has never failed to protect businesses from Malware, Ransomware, Viral or Phishing attacks.
Given that so much of what any organisation does uses its connection to the internet, then that connection becomes critical to organisational operation. Copper telephony services are being switched off and this means that even telephony will rely on the internet connection. The DfE are giving recommendations as to optimum speeds of internet connection for different categories of educational establishment, but this is largely irrelevant if your broadband connection fails. Mainstream have the solution in a product/service that has low standby cost, but upon failure of your primary internet connection, ensures that internet connectivity is maintained.
