LONDON, April 16, 2007 - Birmingham City Council has announced plans to connect 450 schools, 60 libraries and 240 council-related offices in one of the UK's most advanced local government networks. Using Cisco technologies, Service Birmingham, a partnership between the council and Capita, is building an Internet Protocol (IP) network around Birmingham to provide citizens with improved delivery of and access to services. The new network will support the council's business transformation programme, helping the council achieve its objective of saving £1 billion of local government costs over 10 years.
Deployment of part of the Cisco converged IP network has already saved the council £350,000 a year on improved communications and infrastructure costs and has reduced network management costs by 40 per cent per annum. It has also helped Service Birmingham exceed its target of 99.9 per cent network availability for seven months. The network is scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2007.
Andrew Mackey, head of networks at Service Birmingham, said: "Our aim is to help Birmingham City Council transform the way it serves the community by providing joined-up council and community services for Birmingham citizens where and when they need them, in the most efficient and convenient way. The Cisco IP network underpins Service Birmingham's work to improve services for Birmingham."
The network is designed to help schools, libraries and council-related offices improve services by making them more accessible to citizens as well as improving council staff efficiency. For example, the network will help schools evolve into community focal points where citizens can access a range of services such as council tax and benefits information, social care and ancillary services.
The network will enable council and other community agencies to work from schools or similar locations, bringing them closer to point of need. Staff will be able to access all information and systems as if they were sitting in a traditional office, increasing face time with citizens, reducing travel and making staff more productive. A pilot at Birmingham's Central Library includes public access to online council services.
Service Birmingham will use the Cisco IP network to deploy other service improvement applications such as a Cisco Unified Communications system, including IP telephony, so that staff can have a single number to use wherever they log on to the network. Service Birmingham is also looking at other services and applications utilising the network, such as managing and controlling building services like lighting and heating, physical access and CCTV systems. Cisco wireless networking is also planned for council buildings to increase mobile working.
The Birmingham converged IP network replaces three previous networks and will use Cisco quality-of-service features to support future applications like IP telephony and multimedia streaming. It will support 20,000 users and more than 30,000 ports, and it is being designed, developed and managed entirely by Service Birmingham, which acts as the service provider to Birmingham City Council. Service Birmingham has received technical advice and support from Cisco and BT, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner.
The network infrastructure will comprise Cisco Catalyst® 3560 Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, all of which are power-over-Ethernet enabled to support future network applications. The Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network will deliver at least 10 megabits and up to 1gigabit to every city location. The network will also use the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Firewall Services Module, allowing Service Birmingham to create a single citywide infrastructure while protecting sensitive information.
"Service Birmingham is leading the way in demonstrating how local government can dramatically improve citizen services by providing online access and allowing agencies to automate, consolidate, and even eliminate resource-consuming processes while offering innovative new services," said David Critchley, operations director, Public Sector at Cisco. "With the help of Cisco technology, Service Birmingham is set to transform the way Birmingham City Council delivers its services, improving work processes and productivity for its staff while also achieving significant cost savings."
About Service Birmingham
Service Birmingham is a strategic partnership between Birmingham City Council and Capita which will support the transformation in the way the Council works; improving services and contributing to its efficiency agenda. This strategic partnership forms part of the Council's objective to find better and more innovative ways of delivering services for the benefit of employees and citizens. The principle of this joint venture focuses on the provision of cost effective, sector leading, ICT services and in supporting the Council in achieving its Business Transformation objectives.
