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To: Sector Investor who wrote (10016)	8/13/1998 2:10:00 PM
From: signist	Respond to of 42804

Tid Bit...anyone still awake out there? OLD NEWS better than NO NEWS? Tenders for the contract were returned from third parties offering equipment from vendors including Xyplex, 3Com and Cabletron. But LCC decided it wanted a long- term partner who would be able to help the authority grow its network as needed until the millennium. M2 PRESSWIRE-29 July 1998-SIEMENS: Millennium Network puts Liverpool and Siemens Network Systems Ltd top of the league (C)1994-98 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A new metropolitan area network is helping Liverpool City Council to lead the way in the provision of Local Government services. A strategic decision to build an integrated network for the next millennium, with a long-term partner, in the shape of Siemens Network Systems Ltd (SNSL) has paid off as the city now boasts the capacity to deliver advanced information services to both local authority staff and the charge payers they serve. Drawn together from a series of separate networks, under the guidance of SNSL, the network means Liverpool City Council (LCC) plans early achievement of the,' stated government targets for electronic mail provision. for pupils across its 220 schools. It will also lead the way in open governance, using Internet sites to allow the public greater access to facts and figures. Long term vision In order for such goals to be met, LCC needed to link all of its facilities using fast connections. This meant replacing the ageing X.25 network which threaded the previous smaller scale networks together. Tenders for the contract were returned from third parties offering equipment from vendors including Xyplex, 3Com and Cabletron. But LCC decided it wanted a long- term partner who would be able to help the authority grow its network as needed until the millennium. Kate Mountain, head of IT at LCC, was clear on her criteria for the winning bid: "We wanted a large company with a good track record and the ability to manage a City- wide project. But the city centre campus was only a start, we then needed a partner who could recommend a structure which would help us exploit the value added applications we planned to add." Synergy SNSL instantly achieved a high level of synergy with the council eliminating the need for the Authority to retender for further goods and services. SNSL account manager Simon Esbach applauded this move, "The authority didn't have enough staff internally to completely design and support the network. SNSL became part of the team and was able to provide invaluable assistance, particularly on configuration which, for such a large network is crucial. Any small changes can have horrendous effects if not managed properly." He added that the council and SNSL had a challenging job ahead of them. The new network was going to cover many different directorates and the solution had to be sold to each one of them, as well as dispel and fears and mistrust. SNSL and the council working together are starting to see the benefit of their hard work with 'buy-in' from the customer directorates. Brown field development Part of the work involved LCC completely refurbishing and networking Millennium House, a large office complex used by the council for different functions including housing, environmental services and leisure services. SNSL assisted the council with the cabling infrastructure, using a Cisco Catalyst 5000 10/100Mbit Ethernet switch as a VLAN connection to the datacentre site at India Buildings. Also as part of this phase. LCC and SNSL 50 telephone connections, a link to the council's existing X.25 network and 60 other links into the datacentre had to be relocated. Extra resilience LCC and SNSL took the opportunity to move to a dual-mirrored communications centre configuration to provide an extra level of resilience for the network. The Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) structure integral to the Telewest network meant that it was possible to instantly redivert traffic from one site to another in the event of a disaster. Now, the datacentre forms the hub of a 100Mbit/sec full duplex network. There are two communications sites on the network campus, one of which is in India Buildings and the other of which is in the Tinlings Building -- another IT services site. Each of these houses a Catalyst 5000 switch and a Cisco 7513 router -- the biggest router used by the authority. The list of projects continues Many other departments have benefited from the new network. For example, the city's 24 libraries are connected. The libraries are using routed X.25 facilities over the new infrastructure. At the same time, the city migrated the revenue and benefits services from dumb terminals to 360 PCs. More recently, Liverpool began switching its 220 schools from the X.25 network onto the new network. This is because the X.25 infrastructure was inadequate for the schools' requirements. At present both voice and data are delivered using this network for Millennium House. Eventually the schools too will be switched to the Centrex voice network, a managed virtual PSTN-based service providing tariffs for calls between schools. The City has also created a data network using modems hooking two Cisco 5200 routers located in each of the communications centres on campus. Each child in the city will eventually have its own email address. A network for the Millennium Mountain is rightly proud of LCC's achievements: "We believe we are further advanced than many other authorities. We have a high speed, fully triangulated, fibre network across six council sites in the city centre alone. We are only using a small proportion of the thirty five optic fibre cable cores and we have just bought a 2Mb corporate gateway for accessing external networks. This is just a start, it is absolutely part of the plan that all the council's systems will have the ability to link into the system" This long-term partnership forms the bedrock for a network that promises to be a showcase for public sector communications infrastructures long into the future. "We wanted to build a high quality network which was robust and flexible. SNSL helped us to achieve our goals." concluded Mountain. About Siemens Network Systems Limited Siemens Network Systems Limited (SNSL) specialises in the design and implementation of multi-vendor enterprise-wide networks. They provide a wide range of vendor independent technology skills and professional services to major private sector companies and public sector bodies, including Ford, Barclaycard, DHL, Guinness, Employment Services, and The Patent Office. SNSL's services range from strategic consultancy, network design, integration and project management, to installation, maintenance and support. Recognising the speed of change in the communications market, the growing complexity of IT solutions and the demand for more powerful applications, SNSL has maintained its position as a provider of highly advanced networks by constantly evaluating new technologies, products and suppliers. In this way it ensures customers continue to be offered the most flexible, price performance migration path for their current and future business. In 1995 and 1996 SNSL was awarded 'Systems Integrator of the Year' at the Networking Industry Awards, on the commendation of end users and industry leaders. The company is headquartered in Hemel Hempstead, with offices in Manchester, Stirling and Central London. It is a GBP 85m plus company employing over 250 people in the UK.