iomart Group is Awarded UK's First Child Safety Online Kitemark Certification
By Iomart Group Press Office, PRNEWednesday, January 12, 2011
Cloud Based Parental Controls Devised by Netintelligence Receive Official Recognition
LONDON, January 13, 2011 - Netintelligence, the cloud based security service from managed hosting
services company, iomart Group, has been awarded the UK's first BSI Kitemark
for child safety online.
Tim Loughton, Minister for Children and Families, announced the
certification today during his keynote speech in London at the BETT Show, the
biggest educational technology exhibition in the world.
The Kitemark for Child Safety Online has been developed through
collaboration between The British Standards Institution (BSI) - one of the
UK's foremost certification companies - the Home Office, Ofcom and
representatives from ISPs and application developers.
The certificate is the first to be awarded by BSI for child safety
online.
The Kitemark is designed to help consumers identify internet filtering
software that has been designed to a high standard and which is both
effective and easy to use. The Kitemark aims to give parents confidence in
such products, to encourage new product development, and most importantly, to
help reduce the amount of harmful content seen by children.
In obtaining the Kitemark, Netintelligence was vigorously tested to
ensure that it met a range of criteria including its ability to block harmful
sites whilst allowing access to suitable internet content, flexibility,
performance, security and ability to function across a range of operating
systems and browsers.
The Kitemark is the latest accolade for Netintelligence's child safety
online scheme. Last year it was named Security Project of the Year at the
inaugural UK Computing Security Awards for its role in protecting the 270,000
laptops issued to low income families under the Government's Home Access
Scheme
Angus MacSween, chief executive officer, iomart Group, said: "It is a
great honour to receive the UK's first certification for child safety online.
The Kitemark is instantly recognisable as a symbol for safety and
reliability.
"Netintelligence offers a complete security solution with all the support
that users need. Its parental controls allow carers to have confidence in the
internet, which can be a wonderful tool for education and learning."
MacSween added: "Netintelligence's market credentials were proven when it
was selected by Becta's approved suppliers, including Comet, XMA and
Centerprise, to provide the internet safety/parental control solution on
every laptop distributed under the Home Access scheme.
"We said at the time that this was a very strong validation of the
technological capabilities of our software and service, and that we believed
Netintelligence to be the most comprehensive internet management tool
available and now the award of this first UK Kitemark lends huge credence to
our belief."
The Home Access Scheme was launched by the former Labour Government and
managed by Becta, which promotes the innovative use of technology throughout
learning, to ensure low-income families benefited from the educational and
social advantages afforded by the internet.
Qualifying families were able to apply for a Home Access grant to
purchase a package consisting of a laptop, connectivity and support. Each
package issued included pre-set parental controls and a version of the
award-winning e-safety guide, Know IT All for Parents.
Ken Coveney, managing director of BSI Testing Services,
commented: "Kitemark certified filtering products will give parents
tremendous support and offer a level of control that does not compromise
parent-child trust. The Kitemark's integrity means that parents and carers
will know they are getting a safer and more reliable product, which has been
independently tested and will offer the most consistent level of protection
currently available on the market.
"The standard has rigorous requirements and Netintelligence
are to be commended at being the first to deliver a product that meets the
tough criteria."
Congratulating Netintelligence on their award, Children and Families
Minister Tim Loughton said: "The internet is a fantastic resource but it's
vital that the Government, parents and businesses work together to make sure
children and young people are kept safe online. We know that under half of
parents use parental controls and that many would welcome a Kitemark to help
them better understand how to keep their children safe.
"That's why I'm delighted that today BSI have awarded the first Kitemark
for parental control software to Netintelligence. The standards set by BSI
are rigorous and the availability of Kitemark certified software will help
give parents confidence that their children will be protected from harmful or
inappropriate content on the internet. I hope that other parental control
software providers will follow suit and demonstrate their products are
equally effective."
A free 30-day trial of Netintelligence's parental control product can be
downloaded from parentalcontrol.netintelligence.com.
Netintelligence is the cloud applications hosting brand of iomart Group,
which recently announced a 36 per cent growth in revenues in the first half
of last year, rising to GBP11.4 million from GBP8.4 million.
CONTACTS: Iomart Group Press Office Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow, G20 0SP Tel: +44(0)141-931-6400 Email: marketing@iomart.com
Iomart Group Press Office, Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow, G20 0SP, Tel: +44(0)141-931-6400, Email: marketing at iomart.com
Tags: Iomart Group Press Office, January 13, London, United Kingdom