Network Communications News (NCN) October 2017 | Page 12

ON THE CASE
LOCAL COUNCIL BECOMES A LEADING LIGHT FOR CLOUD SERVICES
Ci ty of Wo l verha mpton C o u nc il b o a s t s
one of the publ ic s ector ’ s m o s t
advanced clo ud ba s ed IT s y s te m s ,
af te r ap po intin g a utomat io n s p e c ia l is t
Powe rON to maximis e it s u s e of
Mi c rosof t Sys tem Cente r a nd l a u nc h
an i nnovative M icros of t A z u re H y b r id
C lou d m o del.
Keen to automate more IT tools,
enabling the pro-active monitoring
of hardware and streamline software
distribution, the council, with an existing
Microsoft-centric system, invested
in Microsoft System Centre. Ensuring
that the system will be utilised to its
full potential, PowerON, a high-quality
IT management and cloud automation
specialist, was enlisted to help.
PowerON , s ince creat ing a
su cc e s sful bes po ke Clo u d M a na ge m e nt
A ppli an ce (CM A) with ex te ns ive
management ca pa bil iti e s fo r t h e
cou nci l, is now replicating t h e s o l u t io n
blu epr i nt at a n umber of ot h e r
au t hor i ties in a rea s s uc h a s S u f fo l k ,
H ou nslow, Ba rn s l ey a n d Wir ra l .
Steve Beaumont, product
development director at PowerON and
a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional,
explains, “We have a solid reputation
for the quality and simplicity of our
ser vice, as well as offering an assured
outcome to our customers, which really
resonated with City of Wolverhampton
Council. Like many public-sector
organisations, the council is under
pressure to make its budgets go as far
as possible and was facing challenges
with legacy systems.
“Using Microsoft Hyper-V provided
flexibility between on-premises and
cloud computing resources and when
this was combined with the reliability
and security of Azure, as well as our
unique CMA, it created an unrivalled
solution. This is complemented by a
hybrid cloud system with the flexing
of infrastructure services across on-
premises and Azure for key scenarios.
We then also incorporated Operations
Management Suite for cloud backup,
disaster recovery and log analytics,
as well as Enterprise Mobility Suite for
hybrid management of mobile devices.”
Paul Dunlavey, enterprise manager
at City of Wolverhampton Council,
adds, “PowerON thrives on being agile
and flexible which made them the ideal
partner for this large-scale project. They
made the adoption of the cloud an easy
process and the speed it took to build the
infrastructure, which had been a barrier to
adopting these technologies in the past,
resulted in major cost savings against our
initial forecast of how long it would take
do in-house. Ultimately it has transformed
the way the whole council works.”
Following the completion of the
project, City of Wolverhampton Council
was named Local Authority of the Year
at the prestigious Municipal Journal
(MJ) Awards 2017, which described the
organisation as an ‘outstanding example
of modern local government where
the resident is at the heart of sound
commercial decision-making.’
More information: PowerON
0800 3029280, poweronplatforms.com
ALM ‘a small device with a lot of potential’
Designed to transform the fibre monitoring network, ADVA
Optical Networking has deployed its new innovative
technology, ALM. Installed in the municipality of Apex, Carolina,
the in-service monitoring equipment has already made a
significant impact to Apex’s existing network, providing real-
time insights into the towns optical transport infrastructure.
As well as providing complete network assurance, enabling
fibre breaks to be rapidly repaired with minimal disruption, ALM,
unlike other test equipment, has been engineered to utilise plug-
and-play simplicity, says the maker. Specifically developed to
combat customer frustrations, the technology boasts an array of
operator benefits such as, ease of use and intuitive GUI, readily
pinpointing operators to exact areas of fault.
Garnering industry recognition winning a Global Telecoms
Business Innovation Award jointly with Verizon Partner
Solutions, and aiming to launch in 10 more locations by the end
of 2017, ADVA Optical Networking are confident this ‘ultimate’
fibre monitoring solution will soon dramatically change
12 | October 2017
networks and the lives of people who depend on them. Erika
Sacco, director, IT/GIS, Apex accentuated the enormity of this
industry first innovation saying, “Essential public amenities
depend on rapid reporting and information exchange. For
services like policing, firefighting and wastewater management,
reliable, high-speed connections could not be more critical.
That’s why we’re leveraging the assurance of ADVA Optical
Networking’s ALM fiber monitoring solution.
“Fibre is only as useful as it is available; being alerted to
any damage in real time enables us to take action even before
a break happens. That means excellent service availability and
major budget savings. What’s more, it makes our processes far
more environmentally friendly. We’re currently monitoring six
key fiber pairs and will be including ten more locations before
the end of 2017. Over the next few years, we’ll expand the
scope even further and the advantages will increase.”
More information: AVDA Optical Networking 01904 692 700,
advaoptical.com