Oct, 2001 : Surrey County Council Signs 13m Contract with C&W
📅 - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk) yesterday signed a£13 million contract with telecommunications company Cable & Wireless(cw.com), using technology from equipment supplier, Cisco Systems.
The groundbreaking project, known as SWAN (Surrey Wide Area Network), willinvolve the replacement of ageing computer and telephone networks acrossCounty Council sites (excluding schools) over the next 18 months as part ofa major modernization program. The technology will allow greater efficiencyand support the Council's e-service strategy of providing public access toall its services by phone, the Internet and digital TV by 2004.
The Council's executive member for resources, Peter Langham, said: "This isan exciting development that will provide an important boost to the capacityand reliability of our telephone and computer systems, as well as making itcheaper to operate. Efficiency savings can then be re-directed to front-lineservices such as schools and social care."
"The contract will play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitioustarget of being able to provide all our services electronically one year inadvance of the government's target."
Key benefits of SWAN include upgrading a number of ageing phone and computernetworks in Council sites across Surrey and bringing them together on thesame network. This will effectively make all calls between departmentsinternal, thus saving on the cost of external calls.
The edge technology will also enable more flexible working arrangements,allowing staff to work more effectively and be easier to contact indifferent locations through the use of "roaming profiles" for computers and"virtual" telephone numbers.
For the past four years selected Council staff have been experimenting withflexible working, such as "hotdesking," where colleagues share officeworkstations instead of each having an individual desk and computer. SWANwill installthe infrastructure to enable a massive expansion of theCouncil's flexible working programme to help the authority meet its goal ofmaking better use of staff time, office space and technology.
Research suggests about 70% of Surrey people now have access to theInternet, either at home or work, and an increasing number of people expectto be able to do business with the Council online.
The groundbreaking project, known as SWAN (Surrey Wide Area Network), willinvolve the replacement of ageing computer and telephone networks acrossCounty Council sites (excluding schools) over the next 18 months as part ofa major modernization program. The technology will allow greater efficiencyand support the Council's e-service strategy of providing public access toall its services by phone, the Internet and digital TV by 2004.
The Council's executive member for resources, Peter Langham, said: "This isan exciting development that will provide an important boost to the capacityand reliability of our telephone and computer systems, as well as making itcheaper to operate. Efficiency savings can then be re-directed to front-lineservices such as schools and social care."
"The contract will play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitioustarget of being able to provide all our services electronically one year inadvance of the government's target."
Key benefits of SWAN include upgrading a number of ageing phone and computernetworks in Council sites across Surrey and bringing them together on thesame network. This will effectively make all calls between departmentsinternal, thus saving on the cost of external calls.
The edge technology will also enable more flexible working arrangements,allowing staff to work more effectively and be easier to contact indifferent locations through the use of "roaming profiles" for computers and"virtual" telephone numbers.
For the past four years selected Council staff have been experimenting withflexible working, such as "hotdesking," where colleagues share officeworkstations instead of each having an individual desk and computer. SWANwill installthe infrastructure to enable a massive expansion of theCouncil's flexible working programme to help the authority meet its goal ofmaking better use of staff time, office space and technology.
Research suggests about 70% of Surrey people now have access to theInternet, either at home or work, and an increasing number of people expectto be able to do business with the Council online.
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