Inverclyde Council has successfully completed the rollout of the first phase of an IP telephony infrastructure that will link 5,000 workers across 100 sites.
The IP telephony platform, from ntl:Telewest Business, links the area’s schools, nurseries, leisure centres, council administration buildings and social workers. The Council hopes it will improve communication between staff and enable them the work at any one of the Council’s offices.
It is also hoped communication between Council staff and its 82,000 residents will be improved.
The project is part of a wider ICT infrastructure overhaul at the Council, which saw ntl:Telewest Business install a high-speed Ethernet Virtual Private Network (VPN) in 2007.
The network provides the Council with a reliable and scalable infrastructure on which they can rollout new technologies as and when needed. All internal switches on the Local Area Network (LAN) have been upgraded to support the new IP Telephony system, the Council said.
The Council will be setting up a new IP contact centre where staff will have access to centrally-stored information. The Council hopes this will improve the level of customer service it can offer.
Following the upgrade of Inverclyde Council’s Wide Area Network (WAN) and LAN, our ICT infrastructure is now ranked as one of the best amongst local authorities, said Allan McDonald, support team leader, ICT & business transformation at Inverclyde Council.
The IP Telephony project is grounded in the network’s reliability and stability. It will significantly upgrade the way in which we can communicate with our citizens,” McDonald said. “Once the council has its single contact number in place, it will be far easier for the community to get in touch with us and efficiency will be significantly improved.”
Ntl:Telewest Business is part of the Virgin Media Group. Its clients include Aardman Animations, the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, EasyJet and Eton College.
