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Glenn County Considering Computer System Consolidation
February 16, 2011
MITC Recommends a Move to the Cloud
This article is reprinted from the Orland Press Register.
written by Rick Longley
Glenn County is working toward integrating its computers into a consolidated system - particularly when it comes to the Internet.
Supervisors gave Information Systems Committee Chairman John Linhart the OK Tuesday to explore funding options and put together agreements for a central "Cloud" to be installed by AT&T.
Board Chairman Steve Soeth stopped short of granting Linhart the authority to sign any agreements on his own, because "I want to avoid problems and make sure I know what I'm voting on."
However, the board in general did want Linhart to proceed with the upgrades, so the county can improve its equipment and reduce costs.
Linhart and consultant Jim Umenhofer with Matson & Isom Technology said the County IT Committee has been looking at collaboration among departments, centralization into one county system and an economy of scale to get the most for the county's money.
To that end, pooling grant funding and other sources into a countywide computer system is under consideration and the committee also is looking at collaborating with the cities of Willows and Orland on a regional initiative with regard to Internet access and technology improvements - although nothing has been finalized at this point, officials said.
The Information Services Committee has worked on these issues for several months, Linhart noted, since consolidating services into one plan makes more sense than each department having a different service provider.
So Matson and Isom suggests the county look at having a Customized Switched Metro Ethernet - which equals high speed data connections with an Internal county "Cloud."
The Cloud or main connection center would be in the Willows Memorial Hall and its connections would extend out to other county offices around Willows and Orland.
Umenhofer suggested Internet bandwidth speeds would go from 1.5 Mega bites per second to 10 and 100 Mega bites per second under the ATT proposal.
It also would provide a single connection to the Internet for most county departments, increase security and improve access and data transport, he said.
In addition, the vendor also has a "PremierSERV" service to take care of the "Cloud" server, Umenhofer said.
He said it would cost the county about $8,700 a month with a one-time fee of $16,200 to have Broadband connectivity. That one-time cost is estimated at $21,050 if the county stays with its current system and has to move the fiber optic line from the courthouse and replace routers.
Glenn County is currently spending about $7,853 a month for its current systems, he added.
"Don't tease me," Supervisor Mike Murray said. "We are making progress."
Murray noted in the past such IT planning seldom went beyond the conference table, so nothing got done, he said.
Umenhofer estimated it could take 30 days for the new system to be installed once the agreement is signed.
With that in mind, the Linhart plans to move ahead and bring back potential agreements to the board before anything is finalized.
Orland Press Register
Category: General
