Appendix 1

RELATIVE MERITS OF HPSN AND ADSL (" Consumer Broadband") FOR THE EAST HAMPSHIRE CONSORTIUM

1. Introduction

1.1 The East Hampshire Consortium received government funding to connect its sites together. This it did using the Hampshire Public Service Network (HPSN) which provided a standard cost connection for a bandwidth (capacity) regardless of location. In addition the Headquarters site at Voluntary Action East Hampshire (VAEH) installed an HPSN telephone solution to meet their requirements. All sites accessed shared information on a server at the Headquarters.

1.2 The Home Office funding has now ceased and all but two of the sites have cancelled their HPSN connections and VAEH has replaced its telephone solution. The consortium were keen to explore continuing their connection or find other means of linking their sites together and to the Internet. Advice has been sought as to the relative merits of HPSN and commercial broadband connections that use ADSL technology. This brief aims to address the requirement for advice.

2. HPSN

2.1 HPSN data services are provided at a standard price for a particular bandwidth anywhere in the county. This means that rural sites are not disadvantaged. The HPSN connects together the sites of most of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Authorities (HIOWLA) Partnership in a private network allowing information and applications to be shared without data crossing public networks. It is also a very cost effective way of connecting at high bandwidth whatever the location. Most of the County Council sites and schools are connected in this way. Thus corporate sites and schools have easy access to both corporate systems and the internet over the same link.

2.2 In addition these corporate sites have had new HPSN telephone systems provided and they connect to each other over the HPSN using Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) technology (VOIP) to dramatically reduce costs. Most of the HIOWLA organisations now have gateways into this VOIP network facilitating communication and cooperation..

2.3 The data service provides a guaranteed bandwidth in both directions with a contention ratio of 4:1. i.e. no more than 4 users competing for access.

2.4 The entry level data service costs just over £3,000 per annum whilst a high volume broadband (2Mbps) service will cost about £7,000 per annum. Voice services are additional. As a means of access to corporate systems this is good value but for access to the internet only it becomes less cost effective at the higher bandwidths.

3. ADSL

3.1 BT and other providers are able to offer a Broadband Internet connection in a growing number of areas. This service makes use of an existing telephone line and using an unused portion of the frequency spectrum passes data along the same copper cables. The service is limited by distance and to those exchanges that have been converted.

3.2 The link is asymmetrical in that the connection to the service is at low bandwidth 128-500kbps whilst the return connection can be up to 2Mbps dependent upon distance, the variant purchased and the quality of the cabling. The contention ratio for this service is 50:1 although a business oriented service at 20:1 is available for a higher cost.

3.3 There are two connection methods:

· one uses an ADSL modem, a simple device that connects a single PC to the Internet usually through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port.

· the other uses a router which allows a number of PCs to be connected through their Ethernet connections. This is a slightly more expensive service and carries a higher installation cost.

ADSL costs vary from less than £500 per annum upwards.

3.4 In summary ADSL is suited to connections to an Internet Service for mail, world wide web etc. It is less suited to accessing applications other than those located with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). It is now available as far as can be ascertained to all of the consortium sites.

4. Conclusion

4.1 The consortium has decided that the HPSN costs are unaffordable. However, there are now alternatives to the HPSN service which was not the case some 15 months ago. In many ways an ADSL service is well suited to the consortium members' situation and delivers a more cost effective solution.

4.2 The consortium members can use ADSL services for its interaction between sites provided information is in e-mail form or is placed on a web server either at the ISP or some other host such as East Hampshire District Council or Hampshire County Council. Such web based information could be password protected to preclude public access. Thus the consortium will need to decide whether to take ISP services such as mail or web hosting from BT or other ISP.

4.3 Sites could connect a single PC using an ADSL modem for interaction. Those sites that also provide training and Internet Café style facilities would need to consider an ADSL router connection.

4.4 The migration of the two remaining sites to ADSL services could be relatively quickly achieved thus curtailing the charity's expenditure. The 2 organisations concerned should make clear its intention to the HPSN service manager and should plan for a brief overlap period to cover any delays in implementing the ADSL service. Cancellation of HPSN is nominally at one months notice after the first year. Should these organisations need assistance with managing the cut over and the set-up of the local networks then IT Services Network Services Team would be able to offer consultancy at between £400 and £550 per day.