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About Monterpoint
- Monterpoint was formed over seven years ago, bringing
software professionals with a background in developing database applications for the education sector
together with technical staff whose web skills were honed in the commercial furnace of the dot com revolution.
- This dynamic and unique combination of talents set themselves the task of
helping to drag the education database application market kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.
- The business has grown steadily year on year by building on collaborative relationships
with forward thinking Local Authorities who were not afraid of web technology. Over the years, our products have
moved from innovative but experimental prototypes into solid, tried and tested solutions that can be relied on 100% to do the job.
Also, with time, web technology and the concept of hosted services has become more acceptable in the minds of increasing numbers
of forward looking adult education managers and so Monterpoint's customer base has also grown steadily.
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 LearnerTrack Servers are connected to the Internet on one of the eight Core Points of Presence that make up the JANET backbone. Currently operating at 10Gbps, JANET is the UK's education and research network providing reliable, high bandwidth access to the Internet and other education and networks and resources worldwide.
Further information about JANET is available from:
http://www.ja.net/
UKERNA Co-location includes secure space and direct connectivity to SuperJANET for those who operate services that require high availability or high performance network connectivity. The JANET network is constructed around eight Core Points of Presence (C-PoPs) located across the UK, as shown above. The network links interconnecting the C-PoPs currently operate at 10Gbps. These interconnections form the backbone of the JANET network and are collectively referred to as SuperJANET. This backbone connects to the regional networks with link speeds ranging from 155Mbit/s to 2.5Gbit/s.
LearnerTrack databases and interface systems are based on tried and tested Microsoft technologies;
including SQL Server 2000, asp & .net products, with the
additional security of a Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall
and Microsoft https (Secure Socket Layer). Monterpoint uses
fast and reliable servers with
dual power supply and RAID automatically backed up.
Protection from unauthorized access. In addition
to the standard Microsoft security features, a Linux
Embedded Appliance Firewall “LEAF” protects LearnerTrack
Servers from unauthorized access. This is applied to ensure
against attempted ‘hacking’ that seeks to take advantage of
Microsoft Windows security flaws.
Data Encryption. Monterpoint web servers support Microsoft https protocol (Secure Socket Layer).
Back-Up Procedures. Daily Back-up of Entire Database;
Daily back-ups rotated on weekly cycle; Weekly Back-up of
Entire Database.
User Authentication and Authorisation. Subscribers are given username and password access to their data. Username and password information is used by the system to determine which data subscribers can access, at which user level. Passwords are encrypted with RSA One Way Encryption.
Full Data Roll Back. LearnerTrack data can be rolled back to any point during the previous 2 months
- MIS databases hosted remotely with 24/7 security protection. The JANET education and research network is managed by UKERNA; LearnerTrack servers are maintained in a constantly monitored controlled environment.
- Physical Security. Security personnel guard the co-location sites 24 hours a day seven days a week. In addition intruder detection systems, CCTV, and card access systems control access both internally and externally.
- Access Provision. The precise location of our physically secure UKERNA hosting site is kept confidential. Access to the LearnerTrack Servers is limited to authorized Monterpoint engineers, by special arrangement once a thorough identity confirmation procedure has been passed.
- Power Supply.
The electrical supply to both remote access and power management devices, and hence to the LearnerTrack Servers is via an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), it will continue to run in the event of an external power supply failure with no disruption to the LearnerTrack Service.
- Environment.
A constant ambient temperature of 22º Celsius (plus/minus 2º Celsius) and a relative humidity of 30% to 70% are maintained.
- Fire Detection and Prevention.
The fire detection system will provide the earliest possible warning and covers all areas, including under false floors.
- Importing existing MIS data. Clients who are upgrading to LearnerTrack from other Management Information Systems such as AQUA can import data from existing structures in any data type. Data imports can be automated for multiple occasions enabling users to maintain legacy systems in parallel; this is often a useful benefit during a transition period.
Many LearnerTrack users see immediate benefits from imported MIS data; for example trend analysis can be performed across up to 5 years of data, even though the data was not originally gathered in LearnerTrack.
- 3rd Party Data Harvesting.
LearnerTrack automatically imports valuable external data resources to enhance an array of critical functions.
Always up to date, reliable and comprehensive, there are no technical, installation or maintenance overheads for LearnerTrack customers to access this rich data mine.
- Royal Mail. Postcode data is used for automatic address verification and mapping tools
- Ordnance Survey. Provide the ward level boundary line data used in Map analysis
- Learning & Skills Council. Learning Aims Database (LAD) and Learning Information Suite (LIS) data is used for a range of validation procedures and funding calculations
- Office for National Statistics. Provide Census 2000 data for analyzing participation rates
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