Why Public Offices Use Internet Monitoring Software

Public offices such as university and government affiliated archives, public libraries and other facilities have massive databases connected to internet enabled workstations and broader WANs. The use of Internet monitoring software enables these entities to monitor usage patterns and visited websites, restrict access to specific websites and aid in inhibiting hacker intrusions.

Libraries, research and governmental associated archives at universities and other public offices often have large databases of information that are both public facing and internal. While their primary function may be to make large portions of these databases available to the public, they are also long-term informational repositories that libraries must guard and monitor. With Internet access a crucial part of the offerings via computer workstations that also access the databases, internet monitoring software becomes a crucial component of that mission.

University libraries are often the home of historical and multi-discipline research archives that are not only available to the student body, but also outside researchers and the general public. Although these archives do not necessarily routinelymonitor individual computer resource usage, their funding in the form of grants and other endowments often rely on records of usage.

The scope of the normal operation and maintenance of the University or government affiliate archive resources requires regular data and communication record backup. This is in addition to logging of activity, monitoring of general usage patterns and other functions that are aided by Internet monitoring software.

Like public libraries, these facilities must also guard against hacker intrusions as online users access websites as well as sending and opening emails from the computer stations. Public libraries in particular have decency and usage standards that they must adhere to with under age users so the monitoring software has filteringfunctions to restrict access to certain types of websites.

University archives and libraries as well as other public offices are often a part of a Wide Area Network (WAN) that enables intranet communication and sharing among physically disparate but organizationally joined facilities and buildings. Slow and congested links can have a tremendous impact on productivity and even data transfer integrity.

Monitoring software allows the public office to monitor network bandwidth so that they can be aware of usage patterns by users accessing via a WAN. This enables the public office to see usage details by specific network links as well as users, clients, servers, applications and websites.

Public offices such as archives, libraries and other facilities that provide access to internal databases and online access for research purposes are integral to education and personal enrichment for millions. Ensuring that they remain available and intact, and that the repositories and their users are safe from online threats is the job of today’s Internet monitoring software.

Author Bio:

Paul is a freelance writer specializing in information technology for various verticals such as health, business and industry. He has covered everything from clinical decision support systems and databases to cell phone security software. For more information, visit Pearl software.