Case Study: Kent ISD achieves robust network security and high-performance connectivity with Fortinet FortiGate and FortiAnalyzer

Education Services Agency Improves Protection for 20 School Districts With FortiGate NGFW and FortiAnalyzer

Kent Intermediate School District (Kent ISD) in Grand Rapids supports 20 school districts—more than 280 schools and 106,000 students—and serves as their ISP. As online learning through MySchool@Kent expanded, Kent ISD found its aging firewall solution couldn’t keep up: the interface was unreliable, updates were slow, SSL‑encrypted traffic inspection and throughput were inadequate, and the small IT team faced budget constraints and even student‑launched DDoS attacks.

With help from partner Vector Tech Group, Kent ISD deployed FortiGate next‑generation firewalls (IPS, SSL inspection, FortiGuard) and FortiAnalyzer for centralized analytics and automation. The rollout improved throughput and price‑performance, gave much better visibility and mitigation of security events (including DDoS), simplified management for a small IT staff, and strengthened protection across all districts.

Kent ISD

Chris Lillis

Senior Security Engineer, Information & Technology Systems