States of Guernsey and Alderney combine to enhance bandwidth

Wednesday 27 January 2010

The States of Guernsey and Alderney have combined to develop a wireless link between the islands which massively enhances the bandwidth available to States Departments in Alderney.

The technology, developed by the ICT team at the States of Guernsey in consultation with a local IT firm, uses a transmission dish on the roof of Beau Sejour Leisure centre, connected wirelessly to a receiver on the Air Traffic Control Tower in Alderney.

From there it is transmitted via a series of ‘hops’ to a receiver at the Breakwater, from where it is fed to the Mignot Memorial Hospital. Other departments are also benefitting from the faster link, including the Police, States Works, the Courts and the States Office. Future connections will include the Alderney Harbour Office and St Anne’s School.

The new link will allow faster access to medical images and enhance the use of the new Electronic Health and Social Care Record system, which will be implemented over the next couple of years.

The EHSCR system is designed to allow access to a composite medical record, which could include medical images, pathology results and information on any medications.

The established computer link has limited bandwidth, shared between all States Departments in Alderney, and would have been unable to cope, so the decision was made to progress the project, taking the bandwidth available from 2MB to 40MB.

It was agreed between the islands to solve the issue themselves and though the project cost nearly £90,000, it is believed that it will pay for itself within two years, compared to the cost of accessing bandwidth through any other route.

Garry Fusellier, Information Security Officer in ICT at the States of Guernsey, saw the project through to completion.

‘This is tried and tested technology but is not used by the States that often,’ he said. ‘The project had its challenges – not least that the high cliffs of Alderney face Guernsey and it was not easy to find somewhere to site the dish in the island. I would thank everyone and the Departments involved for their help in making this project a success.’

Alderney Policy and Finance Committee Chairman Richard Willmott praised the project.

‘This is an excellent example of how the States of both islands can do things when we think outside the box a little. The project went well and quickly, and the dishes are small and unobtrusive. Alderney can certainly expect to see benefits of this arrangement both now and in the future.’