Kent signs £32m outsourcing deal

Schools, libraries and council offices in Kent are to be networked in a £32m outsourcing deal.

Kent County Council has struck a four-year deal with US outsourcing provider Unisys to provide a shared wide area network built on a high-speed Cisco backbone to boost public services.

The Kent Public Service Network will initially connect about 1,100 sites and provide extra bandwidth to Kent County Council, Kent schools, Canterbury City Council and Thanet District Council.

It will also support additional home, flexible and remote working in the county and help provide new information to residents.

Paul Carter, leader of Kent County Council said in a statement: "We expect that the benefits the network will bring in terms of collaboration, governmental linkage and common shared infrastructure will, in turn, result in enhanced public services for the people of Kent."

Unisys will provide Kent with managed services and all of the associated hardware and software.