EMA Helps DeKalb County, GA, Upgrade Wide Area Network

EMA, Inc. is working with the rapidly growing County of DeKalb, GA, to update its Wide Area Network (WAN). Moving the network from leased cable lines to an in-house infrastructure creates multiple benefits for the county, which include faster, more reliable information access for employees and citizens, critical network security, reduced long-term costs by eliminating leased cable lines and services and more accurate budget planning

In addition, the new in-house WAN, which integrates voice, video and data, will provide equal bandwidth access and connectivity from anywhere in the county, eliminating the slow information or "bottleneck" of the old system. It will also be expandable to allow for the addition of new applications and sites.

Working with the county’s information systems department, EMA provided network analysis, design services and project management. The project includes a pilot and a full-county rollout. Completed in mid-December, the pilot covered 13 county facilities that house multiple departments, and tested the new WAN to ensure it was working properly. Second, the pilot successfully supported the network connectivity needed for the county’s water department’s implementation of a Computerized Maintenance Management System.

Phase II - the full county rollout - is expected to begin in early 2003, and will eventually involve over 150 locations within the county, including the county’s libraries, which house publicly accessible computers. DeKalb County, located in northwestern Georgia, incorporates part of and is adjacent to the city of Atlanta. This rapidly growing metropolitan county has a population of over 675,000, and is one of the five largest employers in the county.

Source: EMA