Surrey Country Council : Surrey Wide Area Network (SWAN)

One of the largest voice over IP networks in Europe, Surrey Wide Area Network (SWAN) is a venture that enables Surrey County Council to provide improved reliability and computer connectivity on our voice and computer networks, (without increasing budgets), by using the latest integrated voice and data technology.

​Following an extensive tender process in 2001, a contract was awarded for provision of a managed service for the network and installation of new CISCO AVVID technology is now complete.
 
Essential in supporting the implementation of the Council's key initiatives, such as People First, Workstyle, Surrey Desktop, C21B and in delivering their e-service targets by 2004, the flexibility of the new technology has enabled SCC to adapt to changes from these initiatives with minimal disruption or cost.
 All of Surrey County Council's departments are included in the managed service of the existing voice and computer network, with the exception of schools and the library service computer network (libraries already have a managed service).
 
The new technology available on the network is used by all of Surrey County Council's departments currently with the exception of schools, youth centres and the library service.
Benefits of the new technology are:
All staff on the new technology are on a robust and resilient network that enables the County Council to benefit from the value for money that economies of scale offer.
The new technology supports faster access to our computers for all staff including front-line staff supporting the public of Surrey.
All internal telephone calls on the network (On-Net) are free of charge, thus allowing departments all around the County to communicate more economically and making significant cost savings on telephony usage.
The new technology allows SCC to join up with their partners such as the NHS-Net and District Councils.
SWAN provides a robust infrastructure on which to develop their e-service strategy and help them meet the 2005 e-service targets.

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