Installation of iPrism is completely transparent to your existing network, firewall, proxies and servers. iPrism requires no software installation and no workstation or browser reconfiguration. A typical iPrism installation requires less than 30 minutes from start to finish including unpacking the box. Adding user accounts can be accomplished from a single screen in a few keystrokes or by importing a text file. Once configured, iPrism requires minimal maintenance. Database and software updates all occur automatically, and maintenance is required only when you want to add new users or change server configuration.

iPrism first looks up the requested URL in a very large database of Web sites it maintains. If the site is listed in one or more categories (such as pornography or violence), iPrism then determines if the user has access to those categories. If not, the request is denied and the user is notified of such.

The iPrism Web site database is organized into more than 40 categories, which include Adult Content, Violence, Leisure Activities, Gambling, Chat, Sports, Stocks and many others. Additional categories can be added dynamically by businesses or schools as needed.

iPrism blocks access to over 55 million Web pages.

No. Keywords are inherently unreliable and produce very inaccurate results, commonly blocking either too much or not enough information, as well as impacting user Internet response time.

No. iPrism filters by full URL names and includes the ability to block top level directories while allowing subdirectories for maximum flexibility and precision control. URL based filtering is required to properly handle virtual Web site hosting. Since many ISPs host multiple Web sites on the same server, products that block based only upon IP address will incorrectly block every site on the hosted Web server, even though some sites do not contain inappropriate content.

Yes. With iPrism you can easily define access profiles with different privileges that can be assigned based on individual user requirements, as well as groups and sub-groups of users. Authentication can be optionally enabled requiring users to enter their name and password in order to gain Internet access.

Yes. iPrism's time slot editor makes it simple to define different access privileges based upon time of day.

No. In the recommended configuration, iPrism controls all network traffic to and from the Internet. Any attempts to bypass the filter are blocked and logged as an access violation.

Yes. When a user tries to access a blocked Web site, a message indicating that access was denied is displayed instead of the requested page. This page allows users with override privileges to enter a password for immediate access to the requested Web site.

Yes. You can easily add sites to the iPrism database. You can also add your own categories, which can then be included in access profiles just like iPrism's pre-defined categories. Your site and category additions are retained during iPrism's automatic database updates.

Yes. You may change the categorization for any Web site simply by adding a new rating for the site. Your site rating will always override the ratings in the master Web site database.

Updates are automatically downloaded each day into your iPrism at a time that you choose.

You may select to have software updates automatically downloaded and applied to your iPrism or manually apply software updates when you choose. Automatic software updates are performed without any user intervention.

All updates utilize an encrypted link that verifies the identity of both the sending and receiving systems, and ensures that the distributed data cannot be snooped by outside parties.

Yes. In addition to proactive filtering and blocking of inappropriate Internet access, iPrism provides full monitoring and logging of all successful and unsuccessful Internet accesses, giving the organization a complete profile of user activity. Even though access to disallowed Web sites and Internet services have been successfully blocked, it can be very important to be able to track and analyze the patterns of attempted access. This can be helpful as user feedback for corrective action as well as documentation for disciplinary proceedings if necessary.

You can determine on a category-by-category basis whether you want to monitor access, block access, do both or do neither. When monitoring, reports are available allowing you to show detailed site-by-site access or summary reports showing what content categories are accessed by which users.

Yes. iPrism can control access to a wide variety of other productivity and bandwidth draining services, such as streaming audio, streaming video, FTP, IRC and ICQ chat.

iPrism uses a 100 percent Java-based interface to securely manage the system remotely from any workstation. Strong authentication and encryption protects sensitive user passwords from network snooping attacks.

Yes, but in a positive way! Because iPrism can help minimize non-productive, bandwidth draining Internet traffic, it can actually improve your network performance. Also, because iPrism is a self-contained server appliance, it does not require processor cycles, memory, or hard disk space from your installed network servers (as add-on software solutions do). Finally, because iPrism is optimized for performance and reliability, it will not impact users looking for responsive Internet access. iPrism's software runs on dedicated hardware from high-speed memory. This allows iPrism to accommodate network loads of over 20Mbps (equal to 13 T1 lines) without noticeable delay or performance impact. This is in contrast to software-only solutions that run on general purpose hardware and network operating systems.

Absolutely. iPrism does not replace or interfere with existing firewalls or proxy mechanisms. Under certain firewall configurations the firewall settings may need to be adjusted to allow iPrism to receive daily up-dates. iPrism is specifically designed to sit between the network and the firewall and/or proxy server to mesh seamlessly with them to provide a comprehensive access control system.

Unlike software add-on filtering solutions that are operating system dependent, iPrism is a self-contained filtering appliance. There are no issues of operating system compatibility, unlike software solutions that must be loaded onto network servers. With iPrism, there is no software to load or operating system to deal with. Software updates are automatic and administration of iPrism is via Web browser.