Industry
Education
Number of Devices
~15,000
Solution
Portnox Cloud
RADIUS
At-a-glance
Industry
Headquarters
Employees
Locations
Devices
Network
Environment
Services Implemented
Deployment Model
Driver
Company Background
New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation (NAFCS), located in southern Indiana, serves more than 12,500 students across 16 schools and multiple administrative and support buildings. With a growing reliance on Chromebooks, IP-based systems, and diverse connected devices, the district’s IT team manages approximately 15,000 endpoints. The district’s small IT staff is tasked with not only supporting learning technologies but also advancing its cybersecurity maturity. Recent cybersecurity assessments highlighted the lack of a true Network Access Control (NAC) solution as a gap to address.
The Challenge
When IT Manager Christopher Bowers joined the district in 2019, NAFCS was using Cisco ISE, but the platform’s complexity and cost quickly led to the realization that they weren’t ever going to be able to get full functionality from it. For years, the district relied on Microsoft Network Policy Server (NPS) to handle wireless onboarding. While functional, NPS lacked scalability, visibility, and logging capabilities—making troubleshooting painful and leaving wired devices unmanaged.
As cybersecurity reviews flagged NAC as a top priority, NAFCS defined “four pillars” for improving security posture—with NAC at the top of the list. The district needed a simple, scalable solution that could secure both wired and wireless environments, support its large Chromebook footprint, and avoid costly new hardware.
Key Concerns:
- Meeting the cybersecurity review requirements for a NAC
- Managing 12,500 Chromebooks at scale.
- Avoiding the complexity and cost of hardware-heavy NAC solutions.
- Deploying quickly over summer break with a lean IT team.
Why Portnox
After evaluating multiple vendors—including Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC—NAFCS selected Portnox Cloud NAC.
What sealed the deal:
Simplicity
Fast Deployment
Cloud-native
Scalable
Support Partnership
Implementation
Deployment began with two pilot elementary schools in May 2025 to validate performance before summer break. By the next month, Portnox was rolled out across all schools, with remaining support buildings scheduled after upcoming switch upgrades.
What the rollout included:
- AgentP installed on managed endpoints.
- MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB) for printers, cameras, PA systems, and other IoT devices.
- Google Workspace integration for Chromebook authentication.
- Streamlined cross-department collaboration:
- Facilities teams can now install IP-based systems, such as cameras and PA speakers, without coordinating switch configurations.
The Results
- Full NAC achieved: Met cybersecurity review requirements.
- Simplicity at scale: Deployed NAC district-wide in weeks, managed by a 2-person network team.
- Chromebook-ready: Seamlessly scaled to 12,500+ devices on the first day of school.
- Better visibility: Real-time insight into all devices across 20 buildings.
- Operational efficiency: No more static switch port assignments—plug in a device, and Portnox does the rest.
- Cross-Team collaboration: Non-IT departments (like Facilities) can deploy IP systems without creating IT bottlenecks.
Unexpected Wins
- Rapid issue resolution: Google Workspace sync challenge resolved in under three weeks by Portnox
support. - Support partnership: Portnox support’s commitment to addressing NAFCS integration needs went
beyond expectations. - Deployment speed: Entire district-wide rollout done in under a month
Key Takeaways
Simplicity matters
Small teams can scale big
Chromebook-ready
Partnership counts
By deploying Portnox Cloud NAC, NAFCS not only closed a critical cybersecurity gap flagged in audits, but also delivered district-wide visibility, secured 15,000 devices across 20 campuses, and simplified onboarding for both Chromebooks and IoT systems. With cloud-native policy enforcement, seamless Google Workspace integration, and effortless scalability, its two-person IT team can now provide stronger security and smoother access for students, staff, and even non-IT departments — all without costly hardware or added complexity.