CIOIN

Technology  Sunderland City Council has announced it will create a multi-million pound cloud computing platform that will serve the entire city.
Working with IBM, the council plans to use the cloud for its internal needs, but to also make the cloud available to organizations based in the city. Its aim is to support local start-ups and businesses, and to attract investment to the area.
Paul Woolston, Chair of the North Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership, says: “[This initiative] raises our game to an international level and will assist the whole of the North East to attract investment and create opportunities for businesses across all sectors.”
With the cloud,  Sunderland council expects to cut its hardware and software costs, and its opex. Local businesses will be able to use the cloud for increasing their capacity and capabilities without investing in new infrastructure.
IBM will plan, design and implement the cloud, using as much of the existing hardware and software at the council as possible. The council’s 4,000 users will have a standardized desktop model.
The company will also provide network, storage and server hardware, as well as server virtualization technology and monitoring facilities, under the contract. The cloud will be hosted in the council’s datacenters.
In addition, IBM will provide services including business continuity, backup and disaster recovery services.”
It was revealed that Sunderland would be the first city in the UK to have “wall-to-wall” superfast broadband.
BT has invested significantly in Sunderland to bring its superfast broadband network to 90 percent of homes and businesses in the city by summer 2012. Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council, says: “The City Council is investing in Sunderland’s infrastructure, ensuring the city is the easiest place in the UK to do business—whether you’re a small to medium-size enterprise, or an international manufacturing giant.