Case Study: McAllen Independent School District achieves enforced off-network iPad web filtering and DDoS protection with F5 Networks

Texas School District Successfully Secures iPads for Student Use

McAllen Independent School District, a Texas district with 34 campuses and more than 25,000 students that issues roughly 25,000 iPads as part of its 1:1 initiative, needed to enforce consistent web-filtering and monitor device use when students connected off-campus. Students were bypassing the district’s VPN and escaping content controls, and the district also required scalable traffic management and protection from volumetric attacks. After evaluating options, McAllen ISD selected F5 Networks and its BIG-IP platform (BIG-IP APM, BIG-IP LTM) deployed on VIPRION hardware.

F5 Networks implemented BIG-IP APM to identify and authenticate devices and transparently steer all authorized iPad traffic through the district’s content filters, while BIG-IP LTM and VIPRION provided traffic management and DDoS defense. The solution made off‑network filtering unavoidable for the district’s 25,000 iPads, enabled blocking of malicious international traffic, improved visibility and traffic control for additional services (mail, MDM, DNS), and delivered scalability to support an anticipated 100,000+ devices—improving policy enforcement, security, and overall ROI.

McAllen Independent School District

Pat Karr

Director of Network Services