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Local Government, Health, Police & Education in Gwent adopt PSBA
Local Government, Health, Police & Education in Gwent adopt PSBA
Landmark Public Sector Collaboration Significantly Expands PSBA Cross-Sector Shared Network in SE Wales
Cardiff, UK,
9 May 2011 – PSBA* today announced that eight organisations across councils,
health services, police forces and further education colleges in Gwent have
together chosen PSBA as their secure, shared service public sector
communications network. This will bring together the largest multi-agency
multi-sector group onto a next generation public sector network (PSN) in the
United Kingdom.
Aneurin
Bevan Health Board, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, Caerphilly County
Borough Council, Coleg Gwent, Gwent Police Authority, Monmouthshire County
Council, Newport City Council and Torfaen County Borough Council have worked
together to jointly design and develop the Gwent Network Neighbourhood Design
(GNND).
Led by the
Welsh Assembly Government, PSBA is the UK’s first public cross-sector shared
services network, and is managed and funded by the user organisations. PSBA is
delivered as a managed service by Logicalis UK as part of a seven year contract
with the Welsh Assembly Government.
The PSBA
provides GNND members with high-capacity secure and scalable network
connections across a range of connectivity options and is capable of delivering
a full suite of voice, video and data services.
“This
collaboration of the eight multi-sector public bodies has enabled the extension
of the first PSN of this scale,” commented Steve Harding, Chairman of GNND, and
Assistant Director Informatics for Aneurin Bevan Health Board. “There are other
projects being developed in other locations but none that match the scale or
ambitions of the GNND. Ultimately the network will provide the catalyst for
significant change across current processes and organisations.”
The use of
PSBA by the GNND group brings together the most diverse range of organisations
in a single region, onto PSBA, with each benefiting from access to their own
secure service environment. PSBA is designed to offer accredited secure
communications services to public service organisations in Wales, with multiple
security levels applied to meet individual needs. It demonstrates the
suitability of public sector network services to drive collaboration between
services and ultimately deliver efficiency savings across ICT and service
delivery.
Harding
continues, “The PSBA offers a national information and communications platform
that meets the specific needs of the Welsh public sector, creating
opportunities for collaborative working and information sharing that previously
weren’t available on this scale.
“The GNND is
the first regional consortium to take advantage of the economies of scale
created by PSBA and provides a clear signal that Wales has built a next
generation public service network that meets the requirements of all major
agencies and public services.”
Gwyn Thomas,
CIO, Welsh Assembly Government, states that with regards the future, “It’s
pleasing to see that the formula that led to this success in Gwent is being
applied across the public sector in Wales.”
Public
sector employees at more than 2000 public service sites across Wales are
already connected to PSBA and the figure is expected to rise to over 10,000
over the next few years as more organisations join. Eventually all 350,000
public sector workers in Wales – including home-based staff – will be able to
access the network.
*PSBA -
Public Sector Broadband Aggregation
About The
PSBA Network
PSBA is a
Welsh Assembly Government led collaborative national communications service
that, in conjunction with other major Welsh public sector organisations, has
created a national information & communications platform to enable greater
efficiency and collaborative potential, helping to support the delivery of
improved services for the people of Wales.
Conceived
and delivered as a collaborative project with key stakeholders in Local
Government, Health and Education, the network is now used by Unitary
Authorities, Hospitals, General Practitioners, Universities, Further Education
Colleges, Emergency Services, and a growing number of organisations funded by
the public sector.
Connecting
users since early 2008, the PSBA network delivers a wide range of
communications services, supports voice, video and data traffic, and is
currently delivering secure, fast and reliable communications to over 2000
(March 2010) public sector sites across Wales.
This unique
and innovative public sector communications service, one of the first totally
integrated Public Sector Networks (PSN) was conceived, designed, and built in
Wales to meet the specific needs of the Welsh public sector.
For more
information, please contact:
Carina
Parmar/Gwyneth Moore
Cohesive
Communications
T: 01291
626200
E: PSBA@cohesive.uk.com