May 27, 2016
Mayor Harry Rilling announced today that the City of Norwalk has again awarded Advanced Corporate Networking, dba, Digital BackOffice, the contract to manage the City’s Metropolitan Area Network (MAN.) Mayor Rilling explained, “Digital Back office will continue to work with our Information Technology Department, managing the City’s 24-7-365 telecommunications network. This network connects thirty-six locations among all city departments, including Police, Fire, and the Department of Public Works, as well as Norwalk Public Schools and Central Office. Digital BackOffice has a record of reliable service and competitive pricing, which made them the preferred provider.”
Karen Del Vecchio, Norwalk’s Director of Information Technology stated, “In conjunction with the City’s IT department, one of the responsibilities of Digital BackOffice is ensuring that Norwalk’s network remains operational during emergencies such as severe weather or accidents that cause cable breaks. The city of Norwalk was one of the first municipalities in Connecticut to install a fiber optic MAN with a self-healing ring topology; this essentially means that should a part of the communications system go down, the system can re-route its operations to maintain service. Since 2005, network services have been maintained to all Norwalk sites during weather-related events. For example, Norwalk’s network was fully operational during storms Irene and Sandy.”
In recommending Digital BackOffice, City officials combined efforts with Norwalk Public Schools to review future bandwidth needs and potential discounts. As a result, discounts from the federal E-RATE program, which provides allocations to cover digital services in schools and libraries, will cover $300,000 of the annual cost of the contract.
http://www.thehour.com/news/norwalk-awards-telecommunications-contract/article_0f8973f8-2453-11e6-8e65-97676c834d85.html
