British Prime Minister Tony Blair seeks to make the UK one of the world`s leading "e-conomies". The plan? To provide every citizen with Internet access to enable them to communicate more easily with government and local councils, and to carry out activities such as voting and paying council taxes.
To help achieve this ambitious goal, Enterasys was selected as an official parliamentary preferred partner for wireless, networking, security and VPN.
Leading players from the private sector - including representatives from the mobile and banking industries and ministers from e-government departments all across Europe and Japan - have been involved in defining this initiative. The delegates discussed measures to offer confidentiality, integrity and authentication in a wireless environment. Some of the goals included:
* Exploring standard mechanisms to ensure that mobile public service transactions are secure.
* Making the Prime Minister`s ambitious targets a reality through cooperation between the public and private sectors.
* Establishing a global benchmark for mobile government/citizen transactions.
According to Forrester research, by 2005 there will be an estimated 28 million "multi-device users" and 12 million single-device users in the UK.
Some 6 000 online centres were installed in the UK, mostly situated in public libraries where the public could have access to the Internet and wireless information. A Web site was created as a forum to bring together up-to-the-minute details on issues across the political and social spectrum from unemployment, housing, the environment, pensions, education, transport, crime and health, to information on the European community and the changing nature of the global economy.
This site also offers the public a central resource for information, specifically about wireless capability, security and networking. For example, a person or organisation seeking information on how to create a wireless office or wireless public "hotspot" for a cafe or train station can refer to the site for in-depth information about the benefits of wireless technology, and how it can result in improved flexibility and mobility for users. As part of this resource, the site also recommends preferred products and vendors who can assist.
Cisco was initially the vendor of choice for this initiative, until Enterasys stepped in and proved it had a more robust solution to address the public`s needs. Enterasys was selected as an official parliamentary preferred partner for wireless, networking, security and VPN. As a preferred partner, the company is positioned as the expert resource for people and organisations seeking to implement secure mobile and wireless devices.
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