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Gov't may standardise public-sector comms networks

Kablenet.com

Published: 12 Mar 2008 16:19 GMT

The government is looking at the possibility of standardising communication networks for all of the public sector.

John Suffolk, the government's chief information officer, has said the Chief Technology Officers Council is working on the issue as one of the next stages of the transformational government strategy.

Speaking at the Tower 08 conference, organised by the Cabinet Office and IT industry association Intellect, Suffolk said there is scope for more standardised arrangements than currently exist under the array of networks run for government departments. "It's about how we begin to drive down costs and how we can power up capability," he said.

Under the transformational government strategy, the CTO Council has been working on common network standards for the public sector. It has now progressed to the point where a common architecture could be put in place, to which potential suppliers to public-sector bodies would have to conform. This is similar to the approach taken in the provision of the N3 network for the NHS.

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A starting point could come with procurement of a new network for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, due to begin during the summer. Future arrangements for the Government Secure Intranet could also provide momentum.

A more standardised network could provide the platform for an increase in shared services in government. Suffolk said that, although more than half of central government employees are now using some kind of shared service, there remains plenty of scope to increase their use.

This would involve taking shared services beyond the "families" of agencies within departments to cover more inter-departmental working and incorporate non-departmental bodies and local authorities.

"We're not at the beginning of the process but we're not at the end," Suffolk said. "We are doing a lot of great work but we have to accelerate that."