In a move to accommodate new generation resource-intensive software applications and office workflow solutions, including e-mail, video conferencing facilities and Internet access, the Pretoria Greater Metropolitan Council has embarked on a R 1-million upgrade to its network infrastructure.
The local authority has commissioned a new high speed network, using fibre optic technology, spanning three of its buildings in Pretoria: The Ou Raadsaal and Nederlandse Bank on Church Square and the HB Phillips building in Bosman street.
The network was designed and implemented by JSE-listed Datacentrix, who will also provide on-going support and maintenance guarantees with engineers on site to ensure its success during the transition phase.
From a technical perspective, the network consists of high speed (1Gbps) fibre backbones in each of the buildings, allowing fast 100Mbps links to the 200 users in the system.
Each building has a Hewlett-Packard 8000 switch with smaller HP 4000 switches on each floor.
In terms of the design, the HB Phillips building is seen as the main campus and is connected to Ou Raadsaal and Nederlandse Bank buildings using digital (ISDN) telephone lines.
Cisco routers are used to link buildings via the ISDN lines, which are also used to carry voice traffic and are connected to the GPMC`s PABX telephone system.
Future plans include the expansion of the network to include other buildings and operations centres run by the GPMC.
Roger Hughes, acting chief Management Information Systems, at the GPMC, says Datacentrix was awarded the initial tender to provide network hardware software and installation services two years ago.
"Datacentrix has been doing our maintenance support for the last two years and supply a good deal of our infrastructure. All large purchases are done via tender and Datacentrix has been a consistent winner."
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