Elbląg is a big poviat town with 120 thousand inha- bitants. Within its borders, there are heavy industry plants (turbines, propellers) and breweries. Elbląg is also a communications junction and a cultural center of great importance for the entire region. The au- thorities of Elbląg therefore promote the develop- ment of industry based on knowledge, open to inno- vations and to the development of services and tourism. They implement projects that attract inno- vative undertakings and support the development of local universities.
„The Construction of a Municipal Broadband Network in Elbląg” is one of the activities undertaken by the Elbląg self-government with a view to develop IT society and raise the town’s competitiveness. The investment has been financed as part of the Regional Operational Program Warmia i Mazury 2007 – 2013. The Elbląg municipal network will be connected with the Eastern Poland’s regional broadband network.
Elbląg is a town that favors modern solutions and innovations. I am convinced that good telecommunications infrastructure will increase our attractiveness in the eyes of companies that implement modern technologies, as well the ones that are only just testing their ideas. I guarantee that the town will support them
Grzegorz Nowaczyk
Mayor of Elbląg
The scope of works carried out by Asseco Poland S.A. included the supply and installation of the ICT equipment necessary to implement the active part of the “Construction of the Municipal Broadband Network in Elbląg” project.
The project reaffirms our position on the self-government market and I am certain that it will become a starting point for more contracts related to ICT infrastructure carried out together with local self-governments. It complies with our strategy
Wojciech Woźniak
Vice-President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland S.A.
The Municipal Broadband Network (MBN) in Elbląg consists of 120 kilometers of optical fiber network located in conduits for electrical installations, which is a passive part completed as part of another project. It is an IP network of the next generation, which covers various services. It links self-government authorities’ facilities, schools, kindergartens, libraries and other town institutions. The citizens of Elbląg, as well as tourists visiting the town, may take advantage of eight external Wi-Fi access points and twenty public Internet access points, free of charge.
Cisco is the provider of the network infrastructure implemented in Elbląg. The network is composed of Cisco routers of the 7600 series, with Ethernet Services Plus (ES+) network interface controllers, which ensures high efficiency of various services and high security level during communication with other telecommunications operators. Network access is guaranteed by Cisco ME 3400E switches, whereas wireless network is based on Cisco Aironet(r) 1520 series outdoor access points. The network also includes a dedicated data processing center segment based on Cisco Catalyst(r) 6500 series switches equipped with application acceleration and security modules. Data processing and data transmitting devices have been located in 3 main nodes, 20 distribution points and 138 access points.
Benefits
The citizens of Elbląg will be able to use 8 points with wireless Internet Access, and 20 points with free access to the town portal, so the Public Internet Access Points. They are equipped with computers with free Internet access and multimedia software. IT hardware has been installed, among others, in the Town Hall, building at ul. Czerwonego Krzyża 2 and at Brama Targowa. The inhabitants of Elbląg may also use a multifunctional device, which allows printing, copying and scanning documents.
The new infrastructure gives a possibility to introduce new ways of providing services to inhabitants, tourists and public sector employees, and to manage them. It helps rationalize communication between town hall departments located in various parts of the town.
It is also a basis making it possible to introduce e-services awaited by the inhabitants. Plans also provide for using a network to monitor road traffic and tides by means of telemetric sensors – this aspect is particularly important for the town, as Elbląg is located close to the Vistula Lagoon and the Baltic Sea.
Due to the new infrastructure, users will be able to access information and resources by using various methods – both wired and wireless – and different services, such as the transfer of data, sound and image. The MBN in Elbląg will also be linked to the regional Eastern Poland Broadband Network. It is a model example of implementing municipal network infrastructure that may be successfully carried out in other Polish towns.
