The UK government has launched a secure intranet system
which promises easier connection with all central and local
government departments, as well as public sector
organisations.
Energis Communications will provide the intranet in a five-year,
£40m networking contract, and will replace a legacy system put in
by Cable & Wireless. Energis competed against C&W and
BT for the contract.
The system provides tighter security, improved e-mail and web
browsing and access for remote workers, according to Energis
spokesman Paul Maguire. The system is based on the Multi-Protocol
Label Switching technology.
Government departments are now beginning a migration from the
legacy system to the updated intranet, Maguire said.
Potentially, it could have hundreds of thousands of users, and
is expected to reduce costs and improve cross-department
communications.
The contract was granted by OGCbuying.solutions, an executive
agency for the UK's Office of Commerce which provides procurement
and services.
According to the OGCbuying.solutions website, the legacy system
had been in place since 1997 and an upgrade to a new system was
planned to take place last September.
Both systems will run in parallel until all users are migrated
to the new intranet.
Scarlett Pruitt writes for IDG News Service