LONDON - The U.K. government launched a new secure intranet system this week, promising to more easily connect all central and local government departments, as well as public sector organizations.
The new intranet is being provided by Energis Communications Ltd. under a five-year, £40 million (US$73.3 million) networking contract and will replace a legacy system put in by Cable and Wireless PLC (C&W). Energis competed against C&W and BT Group PLC for the contract, it said.
The system provides tighter security, improved e-mail and Web browsing and access for remote workers, according to Energis spokesman Paul Maguire. He declined to say exactly what security measures were taken to reduce the chance that they would be compromised. He also declined to say what software the system runs on, except that it is based on the MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) technology.
Government departments are now beginning a migration from the legacy system to the updated intranet, Maguire said. Potentially, it could have hundreds of thousands of users, and is expected to reduce costs and improve cross-department communications, he said.
The contract was granted by OGCbuying.solutions, an executive agency for the U.K.'s Office of Commerce which provides procurement and services.
OGCbuying.solutions representatives weren't available to comment on the new system Friday. However, information on the agency's Web site says that the legacy system had been in place since 1997 and an upgrade to a new system was planned to take place in September of last year.
Both systems will run in parallel until all users are migrated to the new intranet, the agency said.
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