Welsh Public Sector Network Celebrates 100 Organisations

SLOUGH, England, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Wales Leads UK and Reaps the Rewards of Innovation and Investment in Secure Shared Communications Services

Logicalis UK announced today that The PSBA (Public Sector Broadband Aggregation) Network, Wales's award-winning secure shared communications service, has been chosen by 103 Public Sector bodies as their primary communications service.  The PSBA now supports over 90% of all major public sector organisations in Wales across all major industries including Health, Education, Local Government, Fire and Rescue Service, Police, Ambulance Service, and the third sector.  The service now enjoys contracts for just under 5,000 separate sites and is the UK's largest and most diverse next generation public sector communications service.

The PSBA, a service created in 2007 through co-operation between public partners in Health, Unitary Authorities and Education had initial expectations of just over 1,000 sites across Wales. Individual sector organisations in Wales no longer need to procure and purchase their own wide area networking services, and the resulting cost and service benefits of aggregation realised in Wales place the country as the leader in investing and realising the benefits of innovative ICT procurement.

Peter Jones, Deputy Director Online Services and Infrastructure for the Welsh Government commented, "Wales not only had a unique and compelling vision for a secure aggregated communications service, we had backing and participation from public sector organisations who recognised the cost and service benefits of aggregation.  We now have over 90% of all major organisations using the PSBA and, as a result, Wales has the infrastructure and the opportunities to work collaboratively at a scale that wasn't possible before. There is a strong desire from Welsh Government for more joined-up services, and the network we have in place makes it possible to integrate information and provide 21^st century digital services centred on the citizen."

Logicalis provides the design, deployment, integration and management of The PSBA Network, and has created over 40 new jobs in Wales from its PSBA operations centre based in Nantgarw near Cardiff.

Tom Kelly, Managing Director of Logicalis UK, added, "Wales's public sector communications network is a good news story through and through.  The public sector in Wales has come together to save money and improve the communications services that are at the heart of modern public services.  Wales and Logicalis have also delivered real innovation that is being watched by the rest of the world.  In times of fiscal uncertainty the public wants to see that money is being used as wisely as possible, and having 103 organisations working together to deliver the communications services that digital government rely on is the UK's best demonstration of public sector investment being made in the most efficient and impactful way possible. In 2007 Wales made a bold and decisive decision and today that foresight is returning dividends across Wales at a time when working together to meet the economic challenges is of paramount importance."