The Police IT Organisation (Pito) has awarded a £75m
network contract to Cable & Wireless in a framework deal
lasting five years.
The Police National Network 3 (PNN3) framework arrangement makes
Cable & Wireless the provider of managed voice, data, video,
internet and hosting services to all police forces in the UK, as
well as more than 100 organisations in the wider criminal justice
system.
The aim is to allow forces to share data securely, meeting the
government's agenda for more “joined-up policing”, prompted by the
Bichard Enquiry.
Ian Readhead, deputy chief constable of Hampshire Constabulary
and Association of Chief Police Officers lead for the PNN project,
said, "PNN3 plays a pivotal role in the drive toward a more modern
police service.
“It facilitates greater communication between forces and secure
access to centralised data, making interoperability easier. This is
a key recommendation of the Bichard Inquiry and allows us to
deliver an effective, collaborative and integrated national,
regional and local information-sharing and intelligence
capability.
“Pito has done a brilliant job in scoping the project and
ensuring that the needs of the police community have been met."
New services delivered by PNN3 include VoIP as well as
videoconferencing for internal, inter-force and force-to-agency
communications.
Pito said that PNN3 offered standard internal/external telephony
with built-in security and criminal justice extranet connectivity,
giving forces secure access to national police systems, as well as
robust encryption, firewall, internet access, web hosting and
security services.
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