BT becomes network infrastructure provider for Westminster City Council's Wireless City Partnership
May 24, 2005
LONDON -- Westminster City Council's ambitious Wireless City Project today moved a step further forward following the announcement that BT has joined the City Council's Wireless City Partnership. BT will become the network infrastructure provider for the project, which aims to enable the Council to operate more efficiently and improve the delivery of Council services across the city.
BT's partnership with Westminster Council is the first of its kind in the UK and supports Project Nomad (the National Project for mobile working), a government initiative to encourage local authorities to provide more flexible working and reduce costs.
The Wireless City project was launched in April 2004 as part of Westminster's ambition to be world leaders in city management. It will be BT's responsibility to install the Wi-Fi network and a Microconnect Distributed Antenna (MDA) network across Westminster. The network will support a variety of applications to benefit residents, business and visitors including:
Flexible and responsive CCTV coverage over a wider area delivering a safer street environment by reducing the incidence and fear of crime
Remote noise and street environment monitoring via the wireless network, improving the 'end to end' delivery of council services such as parking, licensing and environmental health inspections
Remote working for council staff - everyone from city guardians to environmental health officers and social workers will be able to access real time and historic documents from the corporate network as well as file reports from their personal digital assistants (PDAs) wherever they are in Westminster
BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots where people can surf the web or send large files at high speeds
Microconnect helps to improve mobile phone coverage and capacity, in particular giving access to 3G services. The discreet, low-power MDA network can be shared by all mobile operators, so helping to minimise impact on the Westminster street scene.
The project is the next chapter in the evolution of Westminster City Council's Customer Service Initiative (CSi)* delivered in partnership with Vertex and the Council's ambition to become world leaders in service delivery and city management.
Clive Ansell, BT London Regional Director, said of the partnership: "The scale of this exciting project is unprecedented both in terms of its size and in terms of the area's strategic importance. We are delighted to be part of this innovative partnership delivering a wireless network that will provide a secure and resilient communications infrastructure across the borough."
Cllr Simon Milton, Leader of Westminster City Council said: "This is the first deal of its kind in the UK and will establish Westminster City Council as a world leader for technology and innovation. The Wireless City will benefit those who live and work in Westminster by improving the street environment through reducing crime and disorder, improving the delivery and effectiveness of council services and enabling us to maintain low tax through delivering significant cost savings. BT is the ideal partner for us, combining in-depth communications expertise with a strong experience of working with other local authorities to provide wireless technology."
Chris Clark, CEO BT Wireless Broadband added: "Wireless access is at the very heart of BT's mobility and convergence vision which is to provide its customers with access to all their applications and information on their choice of device, utilising the best network available with a seamless user experience."
BT is already a key supplier of voice communications to Westminster City Council, and by joining the Wireless City Partnership, BT will bring its communications' expertise to the design, build and operation of wireless infrastructure services across the city.
BT has also been working with several local authorities to explore, evaluate and document best practice in delivering wireless broadband access for local authorities and has installed wireless technology in Cardiff and the London borough of Lewisham. The Westminster partnership is the most ambitious because it will use wireless technology to transform a wide range of applications within a local authority, becoming a showcase for how a Local Authority can deliver the Government's Gershon efficiency targets.
*Westminster City Council's CSi programme is delivered by Vertex, an international strategic service provider, with particular expertise in customer management.
BT Group plc
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