The recent upgrade to the IT infrastructure at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban is an example of "wise spending of taxpayers` money".
Shane Ramlall, IT manager at the ICC, reports that the upgrade, designed and implemented in association with networking specialist company 3Com, will be of benefit to the many thousands of conference delegates who visit the ICC annually.
"Central to the upgrade is a significant increase in the speed and performance of the network," notes Ramlall. "The benefits that accrue will be felt not only by our own 90-member team, but also by visiting organisations who hire the ICC and who are increasingly demanding new-generation IT solutions for their staff and delegates as part of the deal."
From a technical perspective, users have received a 10-fold boost in speed (from 10 to 100Mbps), while the infrastructure at the core of the network has been upgraded to a high-speed (1Gbps) backbone design. The network`s servers now also operate at a fast 1Gbps - a significant enhancement from the previous platform, confirms Ramlall.
Gavin Labuschagne, regional manager of 3Com in KwaZulu-Natal, says the upgrade has set the stage for the provision of modern voice and video services over the ICC network.
"With fail safe dual redundancy at the core of the network, lifetime warranties on components at the edge of the network, security features and free network management software, I believe the ICC has negotiated a positive deal for KwaZulu-Natal taxpayers," he says.
Training of ICC technical staff on the new systems will take place at 3Com`s Academy at the University of Durban-Westville.
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