The installation of a R9 million wireless communication network in Eastern Johannesburg by Bromide Technologies has made the Ekhuruleni Metropolitan Municipality the first South African municipality to cover its entire constituency under one seamless network.
Apart from finding a solution where leading corporations were unable to, the Bromide Technologies solution is now saving the Ekhuruleni Municipality around R3 million a month in infrastructure costs.
"Three years ago, the municipality was experiencing connectivity problems between their four main sites - Germiston Civic Centre, Meyersdal Water Tower, Katlehong and Vosloorus," Strategic Account Manager at Bromide Technologies, Gerhard Stickling, explains. "They were unable to find a solution from Telkom, prompting us to propose a wireless network, as this solution would not be hamstrung by the remote nature of these locations."
Following the public tender procedures and official award of the project, Bromide set about establishing base stations and erecting a full circle of radio masts, taking into account the security precautions that had to be built into a system of this nature. Apart from physical security measures, the technology group incorporated the latest international wireless encryption standards into the solution.
"Having been appointed as project managers, we used only the best products available in the world, from the Ceragon backbone to the Alvarion software, both of which are considered to be unrivalled in their fields," says Stickling. A redundant fibre cable network was also included between the Germiston and Boksburg offices.
"I think that is part of the reason for our growing success in large information technology infrastructure projects - we do not compromise on either the service or products that make up our solutions," he continues. "Compared to an equivalent solution from South Africa`s leading telecommunication services provider, this solution is saving the municipality R3 million a month."
The Metro Police within the Ekhuruleni Municipality can now set up road blocks much faster, with full remote access into the database. From being able to print a summons on the spot to overall better policing, the wireless network has transformed law enforcement in the region. Just the improvement in fines collection means that the solution will pay for itself over a short period of time.
End-users within the municipality are also seeing considerable benefits from the solution, in that they now have remote access to paypoints for service bills from various locations throughout the region. In this way, the wireless network signals the municipality`s commitment to improving service delivery, especially to people in remote areas.
Based on the success of this wireless network, Bromide Technologies is now competing for a similar tender placed by the Cape Town Metropolitan Council. Established in May 1998, Bromide Technologies delivers an end-to-end service, ranging from IT and networking infrastructure to ERP and back-office solutions. While the company addresses speciality fields through its shareholding in five ICT sector companies, core resources such as finance and administration, logistics, technical skills and sales are shared between the different entities, ensuring a single customer interface across the group. Our services range from ad hoc IT support to companies outsourcing their entire IT departments to us.
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