Nottinghamshire County Council has signed a major five year contract with Virgin Media Business, delivering significant cost savings for local taxpayers.
The collaboration will see the Council improve its wide area network (WAN), achieving savings of around £4million over the contract lifetime.
Council workers will now be able to work more easily with other government agencies, as they link up to the emCloud Public Services Network (PSN).
Through this network, council employees will be able to work collaboratively across more than 500 sites. Schools across the county are also set to gain. Those signed up to the new service will have access to improved security systems, including URL filtering and a more sophisticated Firewall which will protect students from inappropriate content.
Mario Di Mascio, executive sales director, Virgin Media Business, said: “It’s important for local authorities to ensure that their infrastructure works to fulfil their needs now and in the future.
“By utilising the emCloud PSN, the council has done the double: saved its residents substantial amounts of cash, and improved its infrastructure to ensure it meets future demands.”
Ivor Nicholson, from Nottinghamshire County Council said: ““Faced with a three year, £77m budget shortfall we’re looking at every opportunity to do things differently to drive out savings and improve services for local taxpayers.
“Investing in new technologies will allow us to deliver more efficient ways of working and much better collaboration between organisations in the region. The adaptability of the network represents a big step in digital innovation for the East Midlands. We’re excited to see the benefits the improved PSN network will bring to county’s residents.”