Dundee City Council
Wiring up Dundee's libraries for the future
Dundee’s 145,000 residents already had
access to internet facilities based at public libraries and council
buildings. But with this network already running at full capacity,
the Council was keen to take advantage of the lottery-funded
People’s Network project. By fully upgrading the network, they
could give the public faster, free internet access.
The only concern was timing – all work had to be completed
by a strict deadline to receive the lottery funding. With an
existing working relationship going back over a number of years,
the Council turned to us. We would have to deliver speed. Both
literally, with an increase in bandwidth and within a very short
timeframe.
Information for all
The People’s Network project started
as a nationwide initiative to provide everyone with internet access
in public libraries. As part of its Social Inclusion policy, Dundee
City Council was already keen for people to learn how to use
computers and how to access the internet.
Since the upgrade, the Council enjoys some 6,000 bookings per
week. This not only demonstrates popularity, but also the network’s
ability to handle this level of demand – something it would never
have coped with in the past.
A long overdue update for
Dundee’s libraries
Instead of a 2Mbit/s service, the forward-thinking City Council
opted for10Mbit/s – well aware that the city’s data transfer
requirements would only be heading one way in the future.
Our solution would involve running
their circuits over 36 kilometres of fibre network around Dundee
city centre. The only catch being – 36 kilometres of fibre network
didn’t exist. Our team had to plan and construct it. To keep to the
tight deadlines we had to ensure the process ran smoothly. The
local management team we put in place carefully co-ordinated the
process between the construction teams, the city planners and
engineers.
Everything went to schedule, and the
Council gained the lottery funding.
New network. No new
charges.
The Council was doubly delighted. A new network that was a vast
improvement over the old one, yet more cost-effective. Users now
enjoy dedicated support for data traffic.
They don’t share with anyone else and
it’s easier for people to do everything from their schoolwork and
job hunting, to CV creating and shopping online.
Some counsel, from the
Council
So how did we do? We’ll leave you with
some words direct from
Dundee City Council. “ Meeting the
deadline was crucial as the funding organisation required all
spending to be complete by the end of the financial year. We are
gaining more bandwidth, more speed and flexibility without
incurring extra costs.” Dundee City Council
spokesperson.
