The City of Johannesburg is rolling-out a high-speed wireless network that will connect some 500 local government buildings and sites and give the city a more reliable and cost-effective communications system.
The R18 million project should be competed within the next financial year, with 200 buildings earmarked for completion by the end of the current fiscal year (June 2006), City of Johannesburg acting director of IT Herklaas Du Plessis tells ITWeb.
The city is currently converting all its buildings from the existing 64KB Telkom wired network to a full-duplex 100MB microwave link, which will give the municipality broadband access that will support multiple capacities and various network requirements, he says.
Less than 1% of the city`s sites will remain on the Telkom wired network, in cases where wireless connectivity is not possible, Du Plessis estimates.
The need for high-speed connectivity and the high cost of Telkom leased lines has prompted the switch to wireless, he explains.
"It may sound like a lot of money to spend on this project, but with all 500 buildings connected, we estimate that we will achieve a return on investment within seven months."
The wireless wide-area network (WAN) will not only improve the level of service to Johannesburg residents, but also will improve the communication capabilities and reliability of emergency services, such as the Metro Police and fire services, he says.
In addition, Du Plessis explains, utilities and agencies, such as City Power and Jo`burg Water, which are already running their own wireless networks, could be added to the wireless WAN at a later stage, but would potentially be a second phase of the project.
"As part of improved services to the broader community, we plan to provide high-speed Internet access at all libraries within the city, something we could never do with the 64Kb line," he says.
Multisource Telecoms was chosen as the technology supplier for the project, and Du Plessis says, the backbone for the network has already been installed, covering the entire land area of 1 600 km2 with the City of Johannesburg limits.
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