The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has completed the first phase of a Government Common Core Network (GCCN), a VPN-enabled government-wide multimedia communications network. The GCCN aims to reduce duplication, facilitate interoperability and improve cost-performance.
SITA divisional CE David Setshedi said government networks have been focused on single policy solutions up to now, creating constraints within their service offerings. "This has led solution providers to believing that government is a single non-differentiated entity, with the creation of a single network such as OPENET," he explained.
He said communication technologies are converging into a single integrated solution where all media are interwoven. "The development of this paradigm can clearly be seen in the Internet and cellular phone service provider offerings of an integrated communications platform. The GCCN will deliver a technology platform that will meet these challenges," added Setshedi.
Setshedi believes the ability to access and share data across government networks with different security policies and requirements has been one of the major failures of a single solution-based infrastructure like the OPENET.
To cater for specific needs, a total of 16 different networks within government are now being created. The GCCN will address these shortcomings in its approach. After the establishment of the GCCN, multiple virtual private networks (VPNs) will be established that vastly exceed the physical network count of 16, each virtual network tailored to meet departments' specific requirements.
Setshedi said the GCCN recognises there are unique requirements within different environments based on variables such as business drivers, frequency of use, reliability, availability and response factors, and will therefore tailor its services to meet these needs.
"The requirement for 'bandwidth on demand' has become so urgent that it has become a major driving force toward the establishment of the GCCN," explained Setshedi.
"On-demand capabilities do not exist in current data networks and pose a major challenge to supply voice and video conferencing solutions on data only infrastructures," he added.
Setshedi said for the sheer size of government ICT demands, it has become imperative to overcome capacity ceilings and limitations of single organisation solutions like the OPENET by replacing it with a multiple organisational GCCN solution.
"Multimedia solutions have now become the answer to exploit the benefits of unified infrastructures. By pooling all infrastructure resources together, one can utilise capacities that are available much more efficiently," he said.
Each department has its own strategic intent and focus areas and needs to be supported by a solution tailor-made for its specific business requirements.
The GCCN will for the first time in government network's history be able to deliver on these interoperability requirements with guarantees.
Share