SmartGov: Kent plans interconnection with Hampshire

Jeff Wallbank said that if the government's proposed Public Sector Network survives cuts that have been outlined, the trial will definitely go ahead. The government has said it plans to introduce a wide area network (WAN) and unified communications facilities to public sector organisations later this year. The network is designed to replace the GSi (Government Secure Intranet). "We are going to trial to see if the work that is being pushed out from the PSN team at the Cabinet Office is actually implemented and is achievable. Will it work? Are we able to connect two regional networks together to different services? We're just testing to see if it works," he told the SmartGov Live conference in London on 16 June 2010. Wallbank said the two regional networks would be connected together via the government's PSN, which would facilitate Kent Fire and Rescue Service talking to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service via video conferencing. "Both of our organisations have mature video conferencing solutions in place. So we're going to see if we can get it to work," he added. The director also revealed that Kent will install Hampshire handsets in its offices, to benefit from Hampshire's unified communications, including voice over internet protocol. Kent Connects will also test the backing-up of a non-critical service from Kent to Hampshire and vice versa to see what happens. "There has been a lot of talk about it. People want to actually want to say can it work." Wallbank emphasised the importance of shared services and called for central government to collaborate more efficiently with local authorities. "We need to breach that top tier which tends to be central government and get them to realise that if you want to make £6bn worth of savings you have to look to work with public sector organisations from your region," he said. The director also said he could not understand why the public sector is still working "at central government level" when "most services are delivered locally". It should be delivered as a unified service, he argued. "I bang the table, I shout, I come to events like this and I put my head above the parapet, I say 'you have got to start to change'," Wallbank added.