New Cisco-based network allows faster, improved
information flow between Country Fire Authority bases and
firefighters
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA – 23 November
2010 – NetstarLogicalis Australia today announced a
significant customer win with the Country Fire Authority of
Victoria one of the world’s largest volunteer-based emergency
management organisations committed to the prevention, response and
recovery of regional Victorian Communities during fire
situations.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) engaged
NetstarLogicalis to work with the CFA Technology Services
Department to re-architect its communications network, to allow for
faster, improved flow of information across the organisation’s 30+
Incident Control Centres (ICCs) during a bushfire. The
upgrade included a standardised technology platform based on Cisco
products which would be rolled out in two phases.
Glenn Kerr, Senior Network Administrator, CFA,
said, “The CFA has more than 60,000 fulltime staff and volunteers
who work across more than 150,000 square kilometres of land in
Victoria. With corporate headquarters based in Burwood, the
CFA services over 20 regional areas across Victoria. This
represents almost a million homes and about 2.5 million people who
can find themselves in life-threatening situations.
Therefore, it is critical that our communications network allows us
to communicate between our Incident Control Centres and with staff
quickly, accurately and effectively in emergency
situations."
“Each fire season presents us with the
opportunity to review, improve and learn from our experiences. We
chose to work alongside NetstarLogicalis for this project because
of the value they provided to us during the planning and strategy
phases and the fact they helped us find a solution that could
integrate with and complement our existing Technology Services
capability. NetstarLogicalis has become a trusted technical
advisor and an extension of the team. The network we now have
will last us for another five to 10 years, and give us the
opportunity to do much more, now that the initial phases are
complete.
“The new network means we can improve the flow
of information between our Incident Control Centres, State Control
Centre, firefighters, administrative staff and most importantly the
community during a bushfire, providing real-time updates on fire
incidents, fire fighter welfare and weather forecasts as they
develop.”
The first stage of the project, which was
completed in January 2010, involved upgrading the CFA’s existing
communications system at its largest ICCs (Level 3 bases) across
Victoria. The solution was based on Cisco Catalyst switches
and included hardware, software and maintenance. This provided a
unified network for data, voice and video. It is designed to
help customers manage power consumption across the network and
attached devices, allowing the CFA to reduce energy costs and its
carbon footprint.
The second stage of the project is currently
underway. Designed to enhance communications access to 150 Level 2
Divisional Command bases across the state to Cisco ISR G2
routers. Equipped with 3G routing and WLAN switching,
providing CFA with the ability to deploy or move remote
fire-fighting command operations with ease and speed.
Chris Meager, CEO of NetstarLogicalis, said,
“It is a privilege to be working alongside an organisation like the
CFA, whose people put their lives on the line each day for the
community. NetstarLogicalis is proud to be able to provide a
strong, scalable network that complements the CFA’s IT department,
ultimately helping to maintain the safety of Australians in times
of crisis.”
With the implementation of stage two already complete across 110
sites in Victoria, the new phase of the project will be rolled out
to a further 40 sites. This is expected to be complete before this
year’s Fire Danger Period.
ABOUT NETSTARLOGICALIS
NetstarLogicalis is part of the Logicalis Group, which is a
division of Datatec Limited (DTC), a $4.2 billion multi-national
Group listed on the AIM market of the LSE and the Johannesburg
Stock Exchange. NetstarLogicalis offers a complete range of
end-to-end solutions for converged data, security and Data Centre
infrastructure. NetstarLogicalis' state-of-the-art network
management facilities help customers reduce the cost of managing
their infrastructure. Our goal is to help customers better run
their business, leveraging our proven networking and Data Centre
expertise and experience. For more information visit www.au.netstarlogicalis.com
About The Country Fire Authority (CFA)
CFA is one of the world’s largest
volunteer-based emergency management organisations. The team
comprises more than 60,000 volunteers, supported by over 400 career
firefighters and officers and more than 700 career support and
administrative staff. Situated in Victoria, CFA covers an
area of more than 150,182 square kilometres of land covering 2.5
million people. This area includes more than 980,000 homes and
covers all of rural and regional Victoria, including provincial
cities and towns (except State forests and National Parks). For
further information visit http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/index.htm