Sunderland City Council has selected supplier IBM to provide a city-wide Cloud Computing platform set to stimulate economic growth for the benefit of the city. This will be done, say the pair, by reducing the technological investment barriers experienced by start-ups and local companies wishing to expand operations.
Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council said:
The new framework will also handle all of the Council’s technological needs as well as reduce operational costs by £1.4m annually over the next five years. The savings are predicted to come from reductions in hardware, software, maintenance and improved IT management.
The Cloud will also provide a low cost, accessible and secure platform for use across Sunderland, allowing residents to access services and information in a quicker and easier way. Local businesses will benefit through the ability to increase capacity and capabilities without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel or licensing new software.
Big Blue will provide the planning, design, provision and implementation of the Cloud for server and end-user computing. The Cloud has been designed to incorporate existing hardware and software in order to be as cost-effective as possible, whilst at the same time providing the council's requirements in terms of: facilitating an agile workforce, improving the experience of 4,000 end-users, simplifying systems management and reducing carbon emissions.
The new Cloud deployment will also support Sunderland's goal to become a national hub for the low-carbon economy, which will require a computing model which supports an eco-system of companies and agencies to collaborate. The City Council sees the cloud implementation as the foundation for deeper transformation, by making available sophisticated but affordable capabilities such as channel shift to online self-service, fraud detection and process optimisation.
It will also be used to enable innovative delivery models to be adopted. For example it could allow a staff 'bring your own computer' policy which has been seen to increase flexibility and reduce costs.
Other companies, agencies and public sector partners are also expected to use the new Cloud for improved collaboration, which is being positioned by the supplier as part of its ‘smart cities’ programme.
Dave Smith, Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council, added:
The new Cloud will be hosted in Sunderland's own data centres. As part of the contract IBM will provide network, storage and server hardware. IBM will also provide server virtualisation technology and integrated management and monitoring facilities. To support operations IBM will provide business continuity, backup and disaster recovery services. End-users will be provided with a standardised desktop model; together with council ICT staff, they will receive training to underpin the long-term success of the project.
Lynn Ferguson, IBM Industry Executive for Local Public Services commented:
