Lambeth invests £7 million in converged voice and data network

The London Borough of Lambeth plans to invest 7 million in convergence technology to enable flexible working and enhance citizen-centric services.

The borough has called on BT to build and manage the new voice and data network, which forms a key part of the council's 'New Ways of Working' strategy and will increase organisational efficiency and drive increased customer satisfaction as well as reduced costs.

Once complete, the new network will link more than 300 council offices together and provide a foundation that the council can build on in the future, such as extending customer contact centre services or harnessing the power of wireless technology.

"This is an exciting advance for us and we look forward to the benefits that will be achieved from what will be one of the most advanced network and telephony projects in local government," said Eric Bohl, Lambeth's executive director of strategy and corporate services.

"It is an important step in our drive towards improving services in Lambeth."

The initial contract with BT is for three years, with the option of renewing it for a further two years if required.

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.