Agenda - 12-01-1997 - 9a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 SAP2001 Technical Review Task Force Technical Overview-Short Term Plan December 97-June 98 1. Upgrade the Orange County Network Originally the SAP network upgrade initiative was based on an assortment of mixed leased and private line connections among County buildings.After review and recommendations of the Technical Review Task Force,a more consistent technology was chosen which would meet short-term critical needs and provide a foundation for current countywide operations. This initial critical short term network upgrade,followed by the PC upgrades countywide,will allow for a thorough long-term network design process,based on real network performance data,to anticipate needs over the next 5 to 10 years.The completion of cable TV franchise negotiations at a later time will also allow for examination of fiberoptic network alternatives at a reduced cost to the County. The currently mixed and incomplete network uses a variety of leased and private lines to connect buildings in Hillsborough,Chapel Hill and Carrboro.The entire network foundation will be replaced with frame relay service with TI level service at major buildings and 64K service at all others. The frame relay network will be a true"cloud"configuration without central funneling through the Government Services Annex,but the = network will be centrally managed from the IS Department there. Cisco 2500 Series routers will be used in each of the 12 locations to be connected. Cisco 5500, 5000 and 1900 Catalyst l0baseT Ethernet switches will be used in each building to replace existing hub configurations.These switched network implementations significantly improve the performance of local area networks within particular locations. Two servers will be eliminated in locations close to the Government Services Annex. Servers will be upgraded to Dell Poweredge 2200 or 4200 servers in other locations and newer servers already installed will be moved to smaller offices with new connections to the network. Novell IntranetWare will be installed on all servers and Novell Managewise will be used for network management and administration. Intranetware provides Netscape browser licenses for all users.Groupwise 5.2 will be installed for all desktop network users for e-mail, scheduling and document sharing through intranet and Internet capabilities provided in this new release. Users will be able to share documents through both the Netscape browser for single user applications and through Groupwise for collaborative applications. Data communications equipment and wiring in the GSA computer center and in several other buildings needs to be rearranged and rebuilt to allow improved troubleshooting and network security and reliability. --- Intranetware,with the installation of dial-up phone lines and modems,will allow remote network access for users. 2. Upgrade the pool of county PCs Base,mid-level and power user categories will guide the PC upgrade effort.Users who require e-mail and word processor capability will be considered base level.Users who also occasionally require spreadsheet and database applications and are regular users of intranet and Internet capabilities will be considered mid- level.Heavy users of all the Microsoft Office applications, including presentation software,who are also heavy Internet and intranet users, or those with special application requirements,will be considered power users. Life cycle planning for user transition through these levels together with an annual replacement program allows for users to have the capabilities they need while the County is carefully managing the transition to newer technologies. State contract purchasing opportunities allow for initial cost-effective acquisition of 4