Cheshire East Council has signed a five-year, £8 million deal with Capita for the provision of a wide area network for the county’s public sector.
Awarded under the Crown Commercial Service Network Services 2 framework, the deal will provide connections to over 500 sites for the council, neighbouring Cheshire West and Chester Council, local schools, Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Fire and Rescue.
The network, named Cheshire Next Generation WAN, will be managed by Cheshire East’s ICT services and is aimed at helping the public authorities to work more collaboratively across locations, share resources and reduce costs.
The infrastructure will also support the delivery of town centre Wi-Fi for residents for and businesses, with the first implementation to be in Chester.
Longstanding relationship
Martin Cook, executive officer of Capita’s Technology Solutions division, said: “This contract was secured on the strength of our longstanding relationship with Cheshire East Council and innovative network design to support future digital transformation.
“We worked closely with the council’s team to ensure that our solution supports their digital services now and in the future.”
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
