Colleyville’s Information Transformation

CHRIS PEÑA I.S.M. MANAGER, CITY OF COLLEYVILLE, TX

How a Texas city signifi cantly upgraded its ability to serve the public Colleyville’s Information Transformation

THE CHALLENGE: In the past decade, the population of once-rural Colleyville has grown rapidly. In 2004, the city built its fi rst IT department and began linking six data centers, which supported seven city buildings, each with its own telephone system and servers. As Colleyville’s communication needs grew, the city moved to a centralized voice over IP (VoIP) network and other bandwidth-intensive online applications—but its old copper T1 network came up short. Colleyville also learned that its T1 costs were rising drastically.

"We were really in trouble with the amount of service delivery we could offer to our customers and our employees," says Chris Peña, Colleyville's I.S.M. manager.

THE SOLUTION: In 2010, Peña explained the situation to a Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC) rep, who then customized a plan that would meet all of Colleyville's needs. A few weeks later, TWCBC won the business, providing about six times the bandwidth with a series of up to 10

The service delivery has been tenfold.

Mbps Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) circuits. In 2012, Colleyville upgraded to up to 20 Mbps circuits at two locations and added eight up to 20 Mbps Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) point-to-multipoint circuits to connect the City Hall with the Justice Center (police department), three fire stations, a public-works building, a senior center, and the town of Keller. Built on industry-standard, MEF-compliant Ethernet, EVPL helps local governments streamline network management by providing multiple configuration options so that the network is supported, regardless of building location. TWCBC also provides three fiber Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuits to City Hall and the Justice Center.

THE RESULT: Centralization made possible by TWCBC’s secure and fi ber-rich EVPL network has streamlined government processes—and enhanced public safety. Benefi ts include:

• Greater effi ciency in routine government tasks, such as document retrieval, invoicing, and permit creation. • Hardware and electricity cost savings through centralizing servers, applications, and terabytes of data storage at six data center facilities into just two. • Data synchronization across all facilities. • Centralized sewage- and water-monitoring systems. • Online training for fi refi ghters and police offi cers. • Desktop virtualization. • Implementation of the 24/7, 12-camera police surveillance SUV. This alerts Colleyville’s Justice Center when a scanned license plate matches a stolen vehicle’s license plate, which is stored in a database at the centralized data centers. • A citywide digital signage system to allow Colleyville to provide critical information to residents on large television monitors placed in key buildings around the city.

Now Colleyville's IT department can keep up with the city's rapid growth. "It [TWCBC] is our backbone here. We run everything across it," says Peña. "The service delivery's been tenfold."

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