Kent County Council builds £32m shared service network with Unisys

Kent County Council has signed a £32m outsourcing contract with Unisys to build and manage a shared network for public services.

With the network, the council aims to create cost-effective communications and collaboration among local government agencies, while providing new information services to residents.

The network will initially connect around 1,100 public sector establishments, including schools, council offices and libraries.

The extra bandwidth the network provides will also mean that the capacity for internet access for many primary schools will double, and there will be improved capabilities to support home, flexible, and remote working within the county.

The network will be available to all public service bodies within the Kent boundaries wishing to join the alliance.

Under the contract, Unisys will provide Kent with managed services and all of the associated hardware and software. Unisys will design and implement a wide-area network (Wan) built on a high-speed Cisco backbone.

The Wan, which will operate under the name "Kent Public Service Network (KPSN)", will be managed by Unisys and provide added bandwidth to deliver a variety of shared information services to Kent County Council, Kent schools, Canterbury Council and Thanet Council.

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter said, "We expect that the benefits the network will bring in terms of collaboration, governmental linkage and common shared infrastructure, will in turn result in enhanced public services for the people of Kent."

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