How schools can secure their digital devices

How schools can secure their digital devices

The ability to transport mobile device anywhere has huge advantages for the modern school, including increased productivity and efficiency. Portability is quite possibly the strongest feature of a mobile device; however, it can also be its weakest.

Schools must prepare for the worst, as lost, stolen or broken devices can be a bigger problem than people think – yet only 73% of organisations are failing to leverage secure charging stations.

Australian company PC Locs has addressed this issue by developing solutions that allow the safe storage and transportation of digital devices.

This year, the company was an award winner for the third year in a row, winning the SME category in the prestigious Westpac AustCham Awards.

PC Locs’ CEO, James Symons, said some of the company’s newer products, such as the Putnam Range for tablet storage and charging, have been “extremely well received” by the K-12 market because of their innovative design and feature set.

To ensure that its product range remains relevant to schools well into the future, PC Locs’ research and development team, located in the company’s Perth head office, has doubled in size in the past twelve months. As a result, says Symons, schools will see a range of newer, IoT enabled products begin to hit the market in 2019.

However, Symons says there are several emerging challenges around the storage and security of digital devices in schools for the year ahead.

“The storage charging and security of individually owned devices at schools and in boarding facilities is becoming more of an issue as 1:1 programs roll out across the country,” Symons told The Educator.

To address these concerns, PC Locs will be releasing two leading edge IoT products in 2019.

“Our new FUYL Tower 2 is the successor for the FUYL Tower 1 and comes with RFID access, LED charging indicators and a cloud management portal that allows schools a whole range of functionality native to the portal as well as the capacity to develop their own APIs,” Symons said.

“PC Locs will also be releasing its first ever product designed for schools and parents to secure, charge and control the use of individual iPads, mobile phones and other tablets with a combined hardware/software solution.”

Symons said both of these products are world firsts and have been entirely developed by PC Locs.

Como Primary School, which has been utilising the company’s products for the last five years, has seen several practical benefits.

The school’s IT manager and teacher, Rachel Martino, said the carry basket options have been particularly helpful for students and staff.

“Now that we’ve got the carry-on basket, it makes it even more efficient because it means we can charge it overnight, keep it safe in our classroom and hand it around to students in a really efficient way,” Martino said.

“It just makes life easier.”