Visitors to Oudenaarde cannot possibly fail to notice the economic and tourism assets that the town has to offer. Aside from the numerous treasures from the rich history of Oudenaarde, there is also room for economic expansion in the industrial estates and specialized production zones outside of the city. IT plays a key role in the services provided by the municipal authorities.
“We concentrate on the strategic goals that we want to reach through IT,” declares Jean Landrie, head of the ICT Department. “For the operational aspects, we turn to strong partners.” The administrative departments of the town work with a PC-fleet of 150 devices, distributed throughout a dozen locations.
Growing network needs
In the mid-1990s, Oudenaarde was an early adopter of SDSL-network connections. “Back then, that was the way to link sites,” Landrie recalled. “Our staff were already working with thin client-applications via Citrix. The SDSL-lines did not offer a guaranteed bandwidth, but in that context, it wasn’t really necessary.” Naturally the use of IT evolved significantly in the years that followed. As more services came to rely on centrally managed applications and data, there was growing pressure on the network. The need arose for a stable, available and high-performance connection in order to ensure the trouble-free use of the applications as well as the associated (growing) data flow. Oudenaarde switched over to the Explore platform and joined PubliLink 2.0, Belgacom’s communication platform for public authorities. In the administrative center Maagdendale - where most of the municipal authorities are based - Oudenaarde has an 8 Mbit connection, that is divided into 2 Mbps for the services with added value for public authorities, namely Publilink 2.0, and 6 Mbps for the secure Explore Internet. At smaller sites, a connection is provided of 256/1024 Kbit/s.
Saving time and gaining efficiency
“We now have the right bandwidth at each site, supplemented with an appropriate SLA for performance and availability,” Landrie explained. “Thanks to this approach, the network will easily be able to evolve along with our needs in the future.” When we partnered with Belgacom it was not only a question of a need for connectivity. The changeover to PubliLink Explore 2.0 fits within a larger project being undertaken by the city. System integrator Cevi provided higher performance on new cabling, a new Citrix-farm and a new fleet of PCs. The town’s core applications are run centrally from Maagdendale. “Of course in all of this, the network has a key role. The new IT-environment should provide better support to the administrative staff , allowing them to save time, work more efficiently and provide better service, as its primary aims.”
Basis for the future
The city switched over to a number of new Web-based applications, including those for the support of the tourism department, the youth services department, the department of sports and the municipal library. Syx Automations from Ieper installed the applications and now provides the hosting. The city’s IT-department is currently working hard on developing a number of e-counters, where citizens can use applications themselves online. Providing this service will naturally lead to increased traffic on the network. With Explore as a basis, the town is currently investigating the possibility of switching over to IP-telephony. “We want to continue to evolve towards cloud computing, but, at the same time, we would like to keep a finger on the pulse in operational terms. Through the collaboration with Belgacom we have taken one more step in the direction of the cloud,” Landrie concluded.
Company profile
Oudenaarde is known as the jewel of the Flemish Ardennes. The city in Eastern Flanders has a population just shy of 30.000. For cycling fans, Oudenaarde is inseparably associated with the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Business benefits
PubliLink Explore offers the municipal authorities of Oudenaarde:
- Efficiency: the right bandwidth for each site
- Quality: concrete SLAs for performance and availability, allowing better service in the front-office and via the e-counters
- Flexibility: a solution for the growing data traffic between the sites, or for staff as well as the public
- Innovation: a solid basis for new network applications including IP-telephony, payment terminals, communication panels and mobile solutions, and all with an exceptionally high degree of security
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Visit Belgacom’s solution pages or contact your Account Manager.
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