Kingston Communications to Provide and Manage New Communications Network for Bolton

A new communications network for Bolton Council and the local education authority will be provided under a contract just agreed between the Council and Kingston Communications.

It will offer secure broadband internet access to more than 100 primary and secondary schools in the borough and enable the Council to work faster and more efficiently through an enhanced telephony system which uses IP – or internet protocol – technology (from Nortel).

As well as broadband links to schools, the network will also provide high bandwidth connections to carry all of the Council’s communications traffic including voice, data and video applications.

The contract was awarded to Kingston following a rigorous tendering process and is for the design and implementation of the network and the provision of a fully managed service. This means Kingston will take full responsibility for 24 hour by 365 day monitoring, fault fixing and all change management associated with new networks.

As one of the best performing Councils in the country, having been rated as ‘excellent’ for two years running in the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), Bolton Council scores particularly highly on its use of resources.

"We believe that we are one of the UK’s leading councils in respect of our use of information and communications technology (ICT)" said Bolton Council Leader, Councillor Barbara Ronson. "A huge amount of thought and hard work has gone into specifying a communications infrastructure that will serve our needs now and cope with the demands of the community for years to come. The new network is vital to underpinning the way we plan to improve the delivery of services and will lay foundations for customers to access all Council services electronically." she added.

"We chose Kingston because of the flexibility, technical skills and professionalism they have shown in meeting our exacting requirements. We regard this managed solution as a long term partnership and we are pleased to be working with an organisation that shares our values," she added.

Tony Cox, Director, Public Sector, Kingston Communications said: "A fully managed solution means we take away many of the day to day issues associated with a network. It frees the Council’s ICT staff to focus on stronger, more engaged ICT support for users. We can call upon our experience and expertise to ensure the best value for the Council, the schools and ultimately the people who live and work in Bolton."

The technology at the core of the network is from Nortel and a phased migration from the existing systems will ultimately make use of IP telephony for the transport of all telephone calls.

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Notes to editors:

About the Kingston Communications Group

Kingston Communications is a leading provider of communications solutions, providing a wide range of voice, data, internet and contact centre services to businesses and public sector organisations throughout the UK.

Kingston is a converged communications company with expertise and experience in both telecommunications and enterprise networking, supported by its own 2200km broadband network. As such, it is ideally positioned to meet the infrastructure, equipment and connectivity requirements of modern organisations, for whom communications is a strategic consideration.

Kingston’s national capabilities have been built on its strong foundations within East Yorkshire, where the company has been providing leading edge services to residential and business customers for over 100 years and where it has been a pioneer in the use of ADSL technology.

In December 2004 Kingston acquired 100% of the shares of Omnetica Holdings Ltd, specialists in the provision of converged IP networks.

The Kingston Group also includes Eclipse Internet, an established and growing broadband ISP that delivers internet connectivity and services to businesses and consumers throughout the UK.

For further information, please contact:

Claire Thompson
Zed PR
T: 0118 944 0394
E: claire@zedpr.co.uk

Judith Parsons
Kingston Communications
T: 01924 882870
E: Judith.parsons@kcom.com

Janice McGrath
Bolton Council
T: 01204 331396