Case Study: Nelson and Colne College achieves secure, centrally managed IT with Sophos

Nelson and Colne College procure Sophos from Eduserv and revolutionise their IT security

Nelson and Colne College, which serves about 1,700 full‑time and 5,000 part‑time students (around 2,200 users), confronted BYOD-driven Wi‑Fi demand, the need to segregate student and college networks, and legacy, poorly managed security (F‑Secure antivirus and a Microsoft ISA firewall) that left the IT team reactive and unable to audit incidents. Since 2011 the college procured Sophos through the Eduserv framework and selected Sophos UTM and the Sophos Complete Security Suite to address these challenges.

Sophos replaced the incumbent AV and firewall, with the enterprise console rolling out Sophos Complete Security Suite and Sophos UTM across roughly 1,000 endpoints and personal devices during a single summer deployment. The Sophos solution delivered separate staff and student Wi‑Fi, centralised monitoring, faster, cleaner deployments and a reduced threat window, plus cost and time savings (including two UTMs for failover under one licence), improved IT visibility and a stronger perception of the IT team.

Nelson and Colne College

Amanda Mills

Head of IT and Network Services