Manchester City Council selects TNP for full-fibre transformation16/06/2021
A £4.7 million 5-year contract to deliver a new Wide Area Network for Manchester City Council has been won by public sector digital network specialist The Networking People (TNP).
Manchester City Council’s Wide Area Network (WAN) service currently delivers network connections to more than 200 Council locations. The WAN provides the network connectivity through which all critical network services and applications are delivered, to enable day-to-day operation of the Council.
Upgrading to a gigabit-capable Wide Area Network with reduced connectivity costs and increased bandwidth is critical to the success of a number of ICT projects. Telephony replacement, wireless and Local Area Network (LAN) projects all depend on the WAN while full connectivity to new data centres cannot proceed without upgraded WAN services.
Around half of Manchester City Council’s 7,300 employees now use laptops or are transitioning to using them, so high quality digital connectivity and capacity is a vital part of the Council’s day-to-day operations. The new WAN will be a key factor in ongoing development of more flexible and remote working.
TNP Commercial Director Chris Wade explains: “Creating a new Wide Area Network will help the wider community by increasing fibre connectivity across the city. It will improve network bandwidth and resilience, while offering greater flexibility with potential for on-demand bandwidth adjustments when required.
TNP has huge experience of assisting public sector clients including local authorities, further education and healthcare providers in extending and upgrading digital networks to deliver greater resilience, increase capacity and enable the wider use of cloud applications. We offer proven capability in the design, planning, delivery and maintenance of the high performing networks so essential for the public sector, private companies and communities.
The WAN project has been made possible through Manchester City Council’s award of funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s Local Full Fibre Network Challenge Fund for Public Sector Building Upgrades. Projects of this kind are helping to achieve Greater Manchester’s digital ambitions, ensuring the region has the digital infrastructure it needs to be a world class digital city region, and offering innovative public services by ensuring our digital services are consistently available and resilient.
The new WAN will also provide cost effective connectivity solutions for hard-to-reach locations and one-off events, and offer managed service provision for network security, support and maintenance. Comprehensive alerting and reporting of performance and security issues or threats across the network will underpin the resilience and reliability of the network. It will improve service levels and increase citizen engagement within the city area, delivering social value for Manchester.