technology     telecommunications     broadband

Gearing up for e-government

ntl and Cambridgeshire County Council make the benefits of high speed internet access available to citizens across the county

In September 2002, Cambridgeshire County Council in partnership with ntl, a leading provider of communications services to the public sector, launched the Cambridgeshire Community Network (CCN). The CCN will be the UK’s most ambitious and inclusive countywide broadband community network, delivering high-speed Internet access and allowing the introduction of electronic services for the local community.

The network, which is currently being rolled out, will link over 300 access points including offices, schools and libraries, plus community access points from pubs to post offices, by the summer. From these points local people will be able to access the network via high-speed broadband cable connections. It will also provide a long-term infrastructure for the council's internal communications, enabling more efficient practice within the council itself, leading to increased productivity and flexible working for employees.

Driving the e-Government agenda
As the 2005 deadline for implementation of full e-Government looms, the pressure is growing on both central and local authorities to exploit communications technology to offer enhanced public services. With this is mind, the CCN is designed to deliver a resilient and scaleable infrastructure to support both the development and delivery of electronic services.

The broadband network will be the engine behind Cambridgeshire’s public sector modernisation, enabling the introduction of an Internet community portal, smart cards for accessing services such as transport and leisure, and a customer contact centre.

Crucially, the CCN will enable the council to offer citizens greater diversity of choice in the ways they access public services - by telephone, e-mail or online - ensuring it is more accessible to the community as a whole, and making a significant contribution to social inclusion.

From the spires to the Fens
Cambridgeshire has a diverse economy. It is renowned as a centre of excellence for the IT and telecommunications industries, however in the primarily agricultural north the county suffers problems of rural isolation, difficult communications and lower literacy standards. The CCN will make a significant contribution to addressing social exclusion, bringing skills development, training and access to technology to areas such as the Fens.

John Little, Head of IT at Cambridgeshire County Council, commented: “The CCN is a vital element of our drive to roll-out high-speed Internet access to the entire county. Broadband will enable citizens in even the most rural areas to benefit from the knowledge economy, and support the delivery of e-government services to the entire county.”

Internal modernisation
The authority also wanted to develop and enhance its own internal network. Indeed another key driver behind the network was the Council’s requirement for increased internal network capacity, which was doubling year on year. The CCN delivers an IP broadband infrastructure, which effectively removes the constraints of time and distance, two of the greatest barriers to genuine joined-up working. For the council, this will enable remote or homeworking, improved information sharing between public sector bodies and collaborative networking.

Maximising investment
In order to obtain the maximum value from its technology investment, Cambridgeshire County Council merged a number of funding streams to pay for the implementation of the CCN. The eight-year contract with ntl is worth £29m, of which £12 million was sourced from central government for joining up public services. This was supplemented by existing network budget for the county council, the People's Network funding for connecting libraries, and National Grid for Learning funding from the Department for Education and Skills.

John Little explained: “By joining up the funding for one project in this way, the council and community receive better value for money without it costing the council taxpayer any extra. What’s more, we will enjoy significant cost savings as the CCN will put a halt to the constant need to upgrade the council’s network and increase capacity.”

He added: “Broadband has the potential to improve services across all areas of the public sector in Cambridgeshire. By working with organisations such as Cambridgeshire Grid for Learning (E2B) and Cambridgeshire NHS we can ensure that the benefits of this technology are felt as widely as possible.”

Powering the CCN
The ntl business division is managing the implementation of the CCN as part of the wider modernisation project, which is being led by Cambridgeshire County Council. Following completion of the core network last summer, ntl is now connecting community access points across the county, and the programme to roll out the network is rapid.

The network is based on a robust Gigabit backbone linking four major council sites, at Cambridge, Huntingdon, March and Ely. It is supported by a wireless link for additional resilience. The CCN has been designed for seamless scalability, anticipating a dramatic increase in volume of data traffic in the run up to the Government’s 2005 deadline.

ntl has a 40-year heritage of working with the public sector and a proven track record in delivering reliable, world-class communications solutions to the sector. It’s an accredited supplier of telecoms, application and managed services to the public sector, including broadband, through the Government Telecommunications Contract Framework Agreement (GTC) as well as a preferred supplier of broadband services to the sector under the Broadband Aggregation Project Framework Agreement. In addition to the broadband services it provides to public sector organisations and businesses, ntl is the UK leader in residential broadband services with 33% market share, and was the first UK ISP to pass the 1 million customer milestone earlier this year.

Connecting to the community
Response to the Cambridgeshire Community Network has so far been extremely positive. In addition to the County Council’s sites, three of Cambridgeshire’s District Council local networks have been connected to CCN, leading to greater integration of ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies) and directly benefiting customers through the delivery of a joint customer contact centre. More than 60 schools have already been migrated to CCN, and in due course all 256 of Cambridgeshire’s LEA schools will be connected.

On the ground, local citizens are also already reaping the benefits of the network. Users at various access points throughout Cambridgeshire are using the high-speed internet connections to access a wealth of online services and resources. What’s more, CCN has really helped bridge the digital divide - not only delivering access in rural areas such as the Fens, but also helping the older citizens to get online in familiar environments such as in their library or village hall.

Awareness of the benefits of broadband is growing across Cambridgeshire, and both the council and ntl are focused on maintaining the education process to ensure that the potential of the CCN is fully understood. The council is also investing in internal training to develop ICT understanding and usage, and ensure staff can exploit the network to its full potential.

The success of the CCN was recognised on a national level last year when ntl's business division and the Council were given the Computing Magazines Broadband Project of the Year Award. The initiative was also a significant factor in Cambridgeshire County Council being awarded Beacon Status in 2003 under the category of Social Inclusion through ICT.

For further information, visit the ntl website at www.business.ntl.com