Alberta’s public shared procurement program surpasses $30M in savings as more security offerings added

Alberta’s ShareIT public procurement program has passed the spend milestone of $50 million since it was implemented in 2017. This equates to a total estimated savings for its members of +$30 million (over their average education discount rate).

This milestone comes as the program adds a variety of new firewall hardware, licensing, and services to its catalogue of offerings, as well as phishing and security awareness training.

The new offerings from the three different firewall providers are intended to accommodate the diverse needs of ShareIT’s member community, ranging from large, complex environments to smaller, more modest installations.

The phishing and security awareness training platform, presented by Terra Nova Security, provides customizable interactive courses, simulations, templates, scenarios and knowledge tests. The platform offers an engaging learning experience that challenges users to better prepare them for future phishing attempts.

The goal of these additions is to help all members better secure their users, while saving costs.

“Finding the right security tools, and ensuring staff have the knowledge they need to spot threats, have become top priorities for all education administrators,” says ShareIT Manager Mary Friedrich. “We’re thrilled to be offering these firewall hardware and services — as well as phishing and security awareness training — on the ShareIT catalogue, particularly at costs that will bring real value to our membership.”

New Firewall Solutions

The Fortinet, Cisco and Palo Alto firewall solutions are scalable, meaning they can be used for small devices that protect a dozen users, all the way up to enterprise devices that can protect 10,000+ users, regardless of geographic location or diversity of their environments. In addition, the agreements can accommodate full replacement purchases, or simply upgrades to current firewall environments.

Compugen – Fortinet

ShareIT has brokered a master agreement with Compugen to provide Fortinet Security solutions.

The Fortinet FortiGate Physical and Virtual firewalls being offered through ShareIT are part of a larger security ecosystem. FortiGate firewalls are purpose-built with security processors to enable threat protection and performance for SSL-encrypted traffic. By providing granular visibility of applications, users, and IOT devices, these appliances are designed to identify issues quickly and intuitively, help security leaders to better manage security risks, reduce overall cost and complexity, and improve operational efficiency.

“Through our solution offering, we will continue to provide exceptional value, best practices, future proofing input, and thought leadership for our clients’ plans and strategies,” says Harry Zarek, President of Compugen. “And we know that we will gain the same in return through this relationship.”

View the recording of the ShareIT Kickoff/Onboarding Session for Fortinet Firewalls Master Agreement with Compugen on Thursday, October 21, 2021.

Long View Systems – Cisco

A master agreement was also signed with Long View Systems to provide a Cisco solution.

In addition to offering a full Cisco SecureX portfolio in next generation firewalls, the scope of deliverables from Long View Systems includes a lifecycle and blueprint sessions encompassing: Virtual Cisco Connect, Cisco Security Blueprint, security lead presales, webinar series , CIO roundtables and executive briefings.

“An award-winning, education focused Cisco Gold Partner, Long View is firmly established in Cisco’s vision of successful consulting partners that can execute on the adoption of a secure, hybrid IT business model for universities, colleges, and school boards across Canada,” says Long View Team Lead Cisco Procurement Specialist, Jamie Day. “Long View has educational buying agreements with Cisco in other provinces, and actively follows and participates in security trends from your peers”.

View the recording of the ShareIT Kickoff/Onboarding Session for Cisco Firewalls Master Agreement with Long View Systems on Thursday, October 28, 2021.

Softchoice – Palo Alto Networks

Finally, ShareIT has brokered a master agreement with Softchoice to provide a Palo Alto Networks solution.

The solutions for member institutions includes:

  • Next Generation Firewall
    • Includes all hardware form factors, Virtual Series and Container Series
  • Cloud Delivered Security Services
    • Includes DNS Security, Wildfire, Threat Prevention, Advanced URL Filtering, IOT Security, Enterprise Data Loss Prevention and SaaS Security
  • Prisma Access
    • Includes Zero Trust Networks Access (ZTNA), Cloud Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) and Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM)

Palo Alto is also making available to Cybera member institutions free curriculum, hands-on labs, faculty training, and virtual firewalls to teach students cybersecurity fundamentals and prepare them for a career in cybersecurity.

The ShareIT Kickoff/Onboarding Session for Palo Alto Firewalls Master Agreement with Softchoice will take place Thursday, November 4, 2021, at 10:00 am MT. Click here to join the session.


Phishing and Security Awareness Training

ShareIT has signed a master agreement with Microserve to provide the Terra Nova Security Phishing and Security Awareness Training platform.

“Microserve, in partnership with Terranova, are very excited to help Cybera and ShareIT members increase their IT security defense strategies and postures by offering these services,” says Rob Leighton, Microserve Account Executive. “This training uses a targeted, engaging and practical people-centric approach to help reduce risk and help create a first line of defense.”

The ShareIT Kickoff/Onboarding Session for the Phishing and Security Awareness Training Master Agreement with Microserve for Terra Nova solutions will take place Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at 10:00 am MT. Click here to join the session.


Not seeing a ShareIT offering your institution needs?

Cybera encourages members who have ideas for other services / products they would like to see offered to contact our team at ShareIT@cybera.ca.

About ShareIT

ShareIT is an Alberta-based procurement and collaboration service, managed by Cybera, that leverages economies of scope and scale to give members access to a broader, more powerful, and more economic suite of computing technologies. It was formed by Alberta’s post-secondary institutions in 2016 to pool their hardware and software purchasing needs, thereby increasing their negotiating powers with third-party providers. It has since expanded its scope to allow K-12 school districts in Alberta to take advantage of existing contracts. Since its launch, ShareIT has saved member institutions millions of dollars in IT costs and time spent on procurement.