Capita plc has secured an £8m five-year contract, with an option to extend for another five years with Cheshire East Council, to provide a wide area network (WAN) connecting over 500 sites for local councils, schools, fire and police services within the county of Cheshire.
The contract was awarded under the Crown Commercial Service ‘Network Services 2’ (RM3808) framework.
The network, known as Cheshire Next Generation WAN (CNGW) will provide improved connectivity between buildings, data centres and better internet and cloud access in a resilient and secure manner. This will help the local authorities deliver essential services to residents and support health and social care services across Cheshire.
CNGW will be managed by Cheshire East Council ICT Services and will support Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council. The network will also be used by Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Fire and Rescue. CNGW is a Public Sector Network (PSN) which will enable the councils to work more collaboratively across locations, share resources and reduce costs.
Capita’s network infrastructure will also support the delivery of ‘town centre WiFi’ that can be accessed by residents and businesses to help connect with each other and be updated on local events. The first implementation will be in Chester with consideration to be rolled out further.
