ICT Services 4 Education

School ICT News Bulletin No. 283 - 18/07/2019

Published by ICT Services 4 Education

eBulletin Items

  1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Academy Contract Renewals
  2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Full Fibre boost for Norfolk
  3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Updata Infrastructure Connectivity Contract Update
  4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Upgrade to Netsweeper filtering service - Monday, July 22nd from 21:00 hours
  5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Service Desk Opening Hours - August 1st to August 30th

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Academy Contract Renewals

This is a reminder to Academies that contracts for services, such as Office 365/Google email accounts, Anti-Virus, Online Back Up and Onsite/Offsite support etc., are due for renewal by 31/08/19. Contracts can be renewed via SLA Online - http://s4s.norfolk.gov.uk

 

As a reminder, don't forget to check out any items that are placed in your basket to complete the transaction!

 

Thank you for your continued support.

 

For More Information:

 
Please contact the Service Desk on 0845 303 3003 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Full Fibre boost for Norfolk

Thousands of Norfolk businesses and schools will be able to benefit from ultrafast broadband after Norfolk County Council secured £8m from the UK Government Digital, Culture, Media & Sport department’s Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) fund.

 

The £8m funding is part of an £11m programme to upgrade more than 370 of Norfolk’s public sector buildings to the latest ultrafast connection speeds. It will enable 230 schools, 108 Norfolk County Council Corporate buildings (including 38 libraries) and 34 fire stations to be upgraded to gigabit (1,000 mbps) fibre internet connections within two years.

 

Cllr Tom FitzPatrick, Chairman of Norfolk County Council’s Digital Innovation and Efficiency Committee, said: “This funding will deliver significant digital infrastructure across the county, in addition to what the County Council has already delivered. Ensuring that Norfolk has the digital connectivity it needs to build a thriving economy is a priority for us."

 

Further details to follow in the Autumn term.

3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Updata Infrastructure Connectivity Contract Update

The current Updata Infrastructure contract which provides broadband connectivity to over 250 schools/academies is due to expire on 31st March 2020.  Norfolk County Council (NCC) has recently signed to extend the current connectivity framework agreement with Updata Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capita plc, until March 2024.  The contract extension process was considered within a competitive process to provide you with the best deal.

 

The Service has been carefully designed to continue to meet Educational requirements and has been recently upgraded, providing significant advances on the current service to ensure it remains the most appropriate and competitive connectivity option for Public Sector organisations in Norfolk.

 

Service Improvements -

 

  • In order to ensure the service remains competitive and scaled appropriately to increase in bandwidth usage, Capita is optimising the network to ensure the shared core service has no bottle necks and provides the high availability required by schools/academies.
  • An upgrade is due next week of the Netsweeper security and filtering platform to provide the latest enhanced functionality and a future proofed service.  This also includes better delegated control to Academy Chains and Federated schools, providing the option to create a MAT/Federation policy rulesets.

 

Next Steps -

 

All schools/academies currently on the Updata network, will receive a quote from Updata to extend their current service for another 4 years shortly.  We apologise that this is close to the end of term, unfortunately the legal procurement took longer than anticipated.

 

As part of your contract terms and conditions, we require your signed contract or confirmation you are not proceeding by Monday, 30th September 2019.   Any contracts or ceases notifications received after this date may result in additional charges.

 

For More Information:

 
Please contact the Service Desk on 0845 303 3003 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Upgrade to Netsweeper filtering service - Monday, July 22nd from 21:00 hours

Further to the news desk article posted on June 10th, we can confirm that the upgrade to the Netsweeper filtering service used by Schools/Academies will be carried out next Monday, July 22nd from 21:00 hours.

 

Whilst we have been carrying out testing, unfortunately, with the vast range of websites and applications used by educational establishments there potentially may be issues with some of them when the upgrade takes place. Both ourselves and Updata will have additional resources in the following day to deal with any issues. 

 

The most effective way to report any issues (including screenshots, which will be invaluable in troubleshooting) will be via email to the Service Desk. However, if reporting anything via telephone, if you can ensure that you select Option 1 for the Service Desk, followed by Option 4 for Netsweeper.

 

For More Information:

 
Please contact the Service Desk on 0845 303 3003 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Service Desk Opening Hours - August 1st to August 30th

To reflect the reduced demand on the Service Desk over the Summer holiday period, we will be changing the hours to reflect this. From August 1st to August 30th, the desk will be open between 09:00 to 16:00 hours.

 

Normal opening hours of 08:00 to 16:30 will resume on Monday, September 2nd.

 

For more information please contact the Service Desk on 0845 303 3003 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

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