Credit: Dreamstime
NEC Australia has won another multi-million dollar deal in Western Australia as the state government rolls out its massive IT overhaul plan.
The technology provider has been awarded a $39-million contract to supply Cisco networking solutions and IP telephony solutions to WA Police, a move described as helping “transform” the environments of every force site.
Specifically, the NEC Australia will supply wide area network, local area network and IP telephony environments across 200 WA Police Force sites and 6,768 officers.
The networking and telephony solutions will be deployed over a 12-month period, plus two years of management, and will form part of the WA whole-of-government $3-billion IT overhaul, dubbed ‘GovNext-ICT’.
NEC was one of three partners comprising of Atos and Datacom who were selected to roll this out three years ago, with the strategy aimed at saving state government departments and agencies $650 million over 10 years.
“These new GovNext-ICT services are the foundation of our digital policing capabilities in direct alignment with our vision to continue as an exceptional police force for our community,” said Andrew Cann, CIO, WA Police Force.
“Additionally, the very fundamental principles of GovNext driving the best outcomes for the state are being demonstrated with this contract.”
The contract awarding comes seven months after WA Police tapped US-headquartered law enforcement technology provider Axon Public Safety Australia to provide 4,200 body cameras to officers in an $18-million deal.
WA Police has yet to comment on whether Cisco’s solutions will be used to support the cameras, which will be worn by all frontline officers by June 2021.
The ‘GovNext’ strategy also saw NEC Australia win two contracts totalling $23 million to improve connectivity for WA Health.
“NEC has a strong pedigree in solutions for Emergency Services across Australia and the world and we are delighted to be working with WA Police on this important initiative,” said Marcus Ashby, state manager NEC Western Australia.
“To be trusted with the transformation of one of the State’s most important networks that will ultimately lead to a safer Western Australia is something everyone at NEC and our partner community are very proud of.”
