East Renfrewshire Council Delivers eGovernment Through Advanced £5 Million Network

Published 19th October 2007

Ethernet network connecting more than 60 Council offices, schools and citizen access points with 100Mb/s communications infrastructure...

Ultra-fast gigabit connection links three core sites

East Renfrewshire Council’s new £5 million converged communications and data network is now fully operational. This network, part of a five-year contract, allows the council to provide more extensive interactive communications with citizens as part of its commitment to making eGovernment services available to all. In addition the council is predicting a return in capital outlay in under two-and-half years.

ntl:Telewest Business, part of the Virgin Media Group, replaced the Council’s legacy 2Mb/s leased line network with its high-bandwidth Ethernet Virtual Private Network (VPN) product. This provides a flexible, scalable and cost effective foundation to meet current and future bandwidth requirements and underpin the rollout of additional services and applications. One such money saving application is IP CCTV, which offers higher definition images than analogue and the option to digitally record images without the need for storing bulky tapes.

The integration has ensured improved accessibility for citizens via the creation of multiple communities with one public access link per site. Three access sites have been connected with an ultra-fast gigabit connection facilitating the sharing of network resources across sites, reducing the cost and simplifying network management. 60 main offices across East Renfrewshire, plus a number of smaller sites have been connected in total. These include the region’s 30 primary and secondary schools, interconnecting more than 5,500 PCs to provide access to richer learning resources.

Jim Love, Project Manager of eGovernment at East Renfrewshire Council, said: “The Ethernet VPN is a vital part of realising our future vision and meeting government directives. It will support a host of exciting new applications, from home working to more CCTV in schools and public spaces, and providing better access for citizens. Not only that but we are saving money thanks to voice over IPT implementation. ntl:Telewest Business has proven it can provide a complete range of products and services to meet our ever increasing bandwidth and performance needs – and at a lower cost than our current infrastructure. Our relationship with ntl:Telewest Business has spanned many years and this latest partnership cements previous projects, such as the migration of 1,500 employees to IP and creating an environment for continued evolution to improve accessibility.

Underpinned by ntl:Telewest Business’ £13bn nationwide core infrastructure, the rollout is one of the largest Ethernet deployments in Scotland to date.

Christopher Small, Director of Public Sector, ntl:Telewest Business said: “East Renfrewshire council needed a communications infrastructure to support the provision of new services and to manage its IT expenditure even more efficiently. Ethernet VPN enables easier and faster roll-out of local online applications, like intranets or eGovernment applications. The long-term network management is less intensive than leased lines, with one central consultant managing multiple locations. This combined cost with cheaper equipment costs ensures that the council can reinvest its budgets into the deployment of new applications in the future.”

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