Unisys Corporation to Build Out WAN for U.K.'s Kent County

The United Kingdom subsidiary of global IT services and technology giant Unisys (News - Alert) Corporation has been awarded a $63 million contract to create to create and manage a public information wide-area network (WAN) for Kent County Council, the authority that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England.
 

Under the contract, which runs through 2012, Unisys will provide Kent with managed services and design and implement a WAN built on a high-speed Cisco (News - Alert) backbone.

 

A WAN is a computer network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, and even national boundaries. The WAN will use routers and public communication links throughout Kent.

 

The WAN, which will operate under the name Kent Public Service Network (KPSN), will be managed by Unisys and provide added bandwidth to deliver a variety of shared information services to Kent County Council, Kent Schools, Canterbury Council and Thanet Council, according to  Duncan Tait, vice president and managing director U.K., Middle East and Africa at Unisys.

 “This project demonstrates how innovative local authorities are increasingly recognizing the advantages of sharing public sector IT resources to improve the services that they provide,” said Tait.  “We are confident that Unisys outsourcing services will help Kent County Council and other local authorities simplify and integrate the business of government throughout the county.”

 

As one of the largest county councils in the U.K., Kent was looking to enable cost-effective communications and collaboration among local government agencies, while providing new information services to residents, according to Paul Carter, leader of Kent County Council.

 

“We expect that the benefits the network will bring in terms of collaboration, governmental linkage and common shared infrastructure will in turn result in enhanced public services for the people of Kent,” said Carter.

 

The WAN will initially connect approximately 1,100 public sector establishments, including schools, council offices and libraries. In addition, the extra bandwidth the WAN provides will also mean that many primary schools’ capacity for Internet access will double and there will be improved capabilities to support home, flexible and remote working within the county.

 

“We chose Unisys because of the company’s experience in delivering high-quality, innovative services to clients, as well as the breadth of support and management expertise the company offers,” said Carter.

 

The WAN network will be available to all public service bodies within the Kent boundaries wishing to join the alliance.