In a move to upgrade its information technology (IT) services infrastructure, the Durban Transitional Metropolitan Council has launched an extensive programme to incorporate faster, more versatile communications between its many service units - particularly emergency services such as the fire department, ambulance service, City Police, traffic Department and the imminent "911" centre.
They will be linked via a high speed network, capable of carrying telephone (voice), data and video traffic. Also in the network will be engineering, physical environment, health, transport, water, electricity and other administrative departments, along with libraries and City Hall - which keep the wheels of the city turning.
The Durban Metro is the largest city and port on the east coast of Africa with a population of some 2,4 million people. It also has the distinction of being the second most profitable city in the world, according to a recent survey.
Central to the upgrade is the installation of a high speed fibre optic asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) backbone which inter-connects all the key service units. This network is being installed at a cost of R 4,8 million over a phased period and is central to the proposed "Unicity" or "Megacity" concept adopted by the province for the expansion of Durban`s support services and infrastructure to incorporate previously disadvantaged communities and satellite councils.
The first phase of the installation is being carried out by local networking specialists at DNS KwaZulu-Natal, who have designed a "general unifying solution" capable of meeting high bandwidth demand with significantly improved scalability.
Durban Metro Information Services Network manager, Siphiwe Radebe, says a key challenge faced by DNS and the design team was to unify a network which has diverse platforms - IBM AS/400, OS/390 and SNA legacy systems together with more modern Microsoft NT-based networks.
"Other challenges in the design process," he says, "included the establishment of full redundancy, in terms of links and infrastructure.
"Fortunately, Durban Metro owns the existing fibre infrastructures used for traffic lights, CCTV circuitry for crime fighting and traffic flow control. These will be integrated into the network.
"Nevertheless, most of our existing infrastructure is six years old and a sizeable amount had to be discarded or upgraded."
Motivating factors for the upgrade, according to Radebe, included the need to modernise Durban`s IT operations as part of its Year 2000 upgrade initiatives and the need to accommodate system growth in a rapidly evolving urban environment.
"Another driver was the high rate of waste and duplication in our basic infrastructures - separate telephone, data and video services being good examples," he says.
Radebe says the upgrade is a five year project which will result in significant cost savings for Durban Metro.
Looking to the future, Radebe says: "We will have a comprehensive, modern and thoroughly integrated system which will be ideally suited to the Unicity concept."
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