Island, the Enterprise Browser: Zero Trust meets zero friction

In Donnelly’s first week as Eagle County’s new CTO, he was tasked with finding a way to securely access the SIS from mobile devices. He began an extensive search for a solution that met security and usability requirements, and the Island browser immediately stood out.

"We seriously struggled to find a traditional technology solution that would allow our staff and students to access our systems in a secure way,” said Donnelly. “When we found the Island browser, it was a game changer."

After a competitive evaluation, Eagle County selected Island for its unique ability to provide enterprise-grade security controls directly in the browser without requiring complex infrastructure changes or endpoint management. The four-month phased deployment focused on continuous user feedback and ensuring minimal disruption to daily operations.

The deployment initially focused on enabling school administrators to access the SIS from their personal mobile devices - unmanaged phones and tablets - with full security controls in place. This approach eliminated the need for VPN configuration on personal devices while maintaining complete visibility and control over data access.

Life-saving response time in real emergency

Island was deployed across the entire district at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, and proved its value almost immediately: A middle school student was injured at football practice, and initially appeared to be unable to move their arms or legs.

This time, though, the same assistant principal – who was once again driving home when the call came in – was able to pull over and immediately access the student's information through Island on her mobile phone. She pulled up emergency contact information and medical details, then contacted the student’s parents while driving back to school. When she arrived less than 10 minutes later, both paramedics and the student's parents were already on scene.

"Thankfully, this has a great ending – it was a temporary kind of injury. But you better believe that the student's parents were deeply affected,” said Donnelly. “Our school administrators were thrilled with the ability to respond so quickly and effectively, and the parents could not have been more effusive in their appreciation."

"As an administrator, if there's a school threat and you need to find a student, you need eyes on that kid, like, immediately,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Katie Jarnot. “With Island, you can instantly pull up the student information system on your phone, and you just go."

Enabling teachers to focus on students, not technology

Beyond emergency access, Island addresses a fundamental challenge in education: removing technology-based barriers so teachers can focus entirely on student connections.

"Being a teacher is like being on stage. You've got your group of kids, things need to happen and they need to happen correctly, right when you need them to happen,” explained Dr. Jarnot. “So it can't just be, uh oh, our classroom technology suddenly is not working.”

The district recognizes that every minute teachers spend troubleshooting tech is time lost from their core mission: creating connections with students that inspire learning. Island's reliability and ease of use have enabled teachers to focus on their mission, not their platform.