About SmartSpot™, Your Solution to Closing the Digital Divide

Today’s schools are leveraging the power of digital to deliver the best educational opportunities and prepare our students for college, career readiness and the 21^st century workforce. Instruction using interactive content, online research, after-school collaboration, digital textbooks and web-based access to school resources deliver the modern 24/7 educational environment.

According to The Broadband Imperative, a report from the State Education Technology Director’s Association (SETDA): “…out-of-school access to broadband by student and teachers is now arguably as important to the overall quality of the student learning experience as access at school.”

The SmartSpot™ Solution

Many schools have deployed “Wi-Fi only” devices including iPads, iPod Touches, Android Tablets, Netbooks, Laptops and even specialized devices for students with special needs.  In many cases, buying those same devices with an embedded 3G/4G wireless modem is much more expensive or mobile broadband access is not needed for every student, all the time.  Enter the SmartSpot™ – Mobile Broadband access for any Wi-Fi-capable device(s) when and where you need it!

The SmartSpot™ is a simple, portable Wi-Fi hotspot providing educational broadband access anywhere:

Why choose the Kajeet SmartSpot™?

• Highly Compatible – works with any Wi-Fi capable device
• 100% CIPA compliant – using your local school standards
• Zero waste – all use is on-task and accountable through robust reporting
• No overages – never get a surprise bill
• Don’t pay to idle – if a SmartSpot™ isn’t in use, it isn’t costing money
• Simple for students – one button to “green”
  
• Small Size - weighs less and is smaller than a smartphone
• Safe and Secure - Managed by the proven Sentinel™ platform
  
• Auditable - Usage information available for individuals and groups

The Sentinel™ Platform

Kajeet developed Sentinel™ to allow schools to manage and audit student education broadband access via a simple web-console.  By embedding the Sentinel™ technology in the Kajeet cloud, we ensure the SmartSpot™ increases student equity, not IT headaches!

• Sentinel™ allows management of SmartSpot™ access to content and web sites
• Sentinel™ works in real-time to manage SmartSpot™  traffic with a cloud-based and web-administered portal, without customer-premise equipment (CPE)
• The Sentinel™ engine analyzes and categorizes millions of new URL’s every day
• Time-based policies allow differentiation for school, home or bedtime
• White & Black lists set rules on specific destinations or keywords to local specifications
• Sentinel™ provides detailed views into usage, destinations & managing student limits for bandwidth

Bridging the Digital Divide - Home Internet Access

Within every school district there are still students who lack access to broadband internet access in the home.  As our schools expand anytime, anywhere access to learning, bridging this digital divide is crucial to maintain equity.  By providing a SmartSpot™ with Sentinel™ managed access, a school can provide the connectivity each disadvantaged student needs without the worry that it will be abused.  Student use can be restricted to a single program (such as distance learning), a selection of websites (a white list), categories of content or any combination thereof.  By restricting the use of high-bandwidth protocols to specific academic use, cost can be controlled and limited to a specific budget, grant program or other funding source.  With detailed activity reports, usage can be examined and aligned to ensure compliance with a funding source’s intent. You can even turn off the SmartSpot™  at night so students sleep better.