By any standards the Networking and Communications infrastructure underpinning the operations of Donegal County Council is of a very significant scale.
The Council’s information systems run on 57 various Database and Application Servers. There are in excess of 1,130 PC’s and 550 Printers. Local Area Networks are maintained throughout the County and 13 no. PABX Telephone Systems servicing approximately 900 extensions. Due to the physical size of the County and the Council’s distributed district office network, a complex wide area communications network to service all Council locations/Town Council’s has been built using a mixture of leased lines, ISDN, wireless and DSL connections. This infrastructure represents many years of investment and is amongst the largest Local Authority Networks in Ireland.
Apart from the 5 Public Services Centres in Carndonagh, Letterkenny, Milford, Dungloe and Donegal Town the Council has established and continues to develop a very substantial county-wide infrastructure including:
- Central County Library in Letterkenny and a network of 12 branch libraries from Moville to Bundoran to Dungloe.
- 4 Town Councils, Letterkenny, Buncrana, Bundoran and Ballyshannon.
- A network of 15 area offices focused on the provision of engineering services and other services,
- Regional Design Office supported by the National Roads Authority in Donegal Town.
- Regional Training Centre for Water Services and Roads Staff in Stranorlar.
- A range of Telemetry Systems in 10 major treatment plants and distribution networks from Carndonagh to Donegal Town to Crolly.
- Fire Service Headquarters in Letterkenny with a Local Area Network.
- 29 Council Members with Notebook Computers and Printers using PSTN, ISDN and Broadband services throughout the county.
- 5 Traffic Wardens and 21 Revenue Collectors with Mobile Devices using PSTN and GPRS services county-wide.
- In excess of 900 Email Users.
As at 31st October 2005 2,945 user support contacts had been logged in the Council’s E-Direct contact management system for the year 2005 illustrating the effort involved in maintaining such a complex infrastructure. The entire networking and general systems environment is unique also in terms of the wide range of applications which exist throughout the organisation. As well as general desktop and core organisational systems, there are many specialist systems in use across a range of activities including planning, engineering, architecture and accountancy.
Key Projects for the period 2006 –2009 are as follows :
- County Wide Wireless Area Network to link up major sites
- Local Unlicenced wireless networks for short range local communications
- Server Additions & Replacements
- Broadband connections to Libraries & Other locations
- Any new Council buildings coming on stream in the period.
- Broadband for Council Members
- Mobile Working – Planning field staff, Plant Operators, Revenue Collectors
- Telemetry Expansion
- PABX Development including IP telephony
- Maintenance of Infrastructure
- User Support
- Operating System / Database Upgrades
- Desktop Systems Upgrades
- Review Network Management tools
- Major Systems Upgrades
- Contingency Planning
- Upgrade Revenue Collectors Handheld Terminals
- E-Working / Flexitime
- Network Expansion Fire Substations
