Case Study: Ascham School achieves secure, high-performance 24/7 learning and 40% reclaimed IT time with Palo Alto Networks

Ascham moves security to the head of the class

Ascham School, a non-selective day and boarding girls’ school in Sydney with about 1,200 Prep–12 students and a Personal Device Program, struggled with a legacy firewall that caused slow or blocked access to online learning resources, inconsistent policy enforcement, unreliable reporting, and exposure to inappropriate sites and cyberthreats. The IT team needed a secure, manageable solution that would support 24/7 learning while accurately enforcing and reporting on student access.

By deploying the Palo Alto Networks Security Platform (PA-3050 with Threat Prevention and URL Filtering) integrated across 150 Aruba access points, Ascham gained deep visibility into network traffic, consistent user-based policies, and reliable reporting. The upgrade eliminated performance problems, prevented inappropriate and malicious activity, made reporting fast and accurate, and freed up about 40% of IT time for strategic projects—turning security into an enabler of safe, productive learning.

Ascham School

Dane Marcus

Network Manager