February 2, 1998 

TO: Corporate Services Committee

FROM: Acting Executive Commissioner of Corporate Services

SUBJECT: HIGH-SPEED NETWORK FOR THE CITY OF TORONTO

Purpose:

This report seeks approval to implement a high-speed fibre network to support the business and operating practices of the City of Toronto. This will allow for the consolidation of computing resources required to run Corporate systems, such as Tax and Vital Statistics. It will also provide the connections necessary to access these and other resources from the Civic Administration Centres, including audio/video broadcasts and the ability for members of Council to share data between their City and Community Council offices.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

The Chief Financial Officer has proposed that the operating costs of $569.1 thousand be funded from the transition fund. The account number provided is CP950-J00950.

Capital funding for this project, in the amount of $498.2 thousand, is included in the 1998 to 2002 capital works program.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

Council Reference/Background/History:

Effective January 1st, 1998, the Borough of East York, the Cities of Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, and York and the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated to form the new City of Toronto.

One of the first information technology challenges the new City of Toronto faces is to create a single network leveraging the existing networks of the seven amalgamated organizations. The network will enable communications between Council members and staff at single or multiple locations, provide internet or intranet access to Corporate information and enable interactive access by the public to elected members, information and services. In addition, it will enable the consolidation of financial reporting, support a single-site implementation of application systems such as the Tax system and support other integrated office automation initiatives.

The recommendation from the IT Service Review Team, in its Budget and Organizational Options Addendum Report, as endorsed by the Transition Team, identified this first phase of the network implementation as a priority project. The report confirms that major nodes on the network, such as the civic administration centres, should be connected using high-end network solutions.

Corporate applications such as the Tax, Vital Statistics and Healthy Babies Healthy Children applications will be implemented across the new city in the first quarter of 1998. In order to meet these implementation deadlines, alternate solutions such as multiple ISDN lines will have to be used to connect the outstanding sites.

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

When connecting network sites, technology solutions range significantly in capacity and price. Network capacity is measured by the amount of data (bits) that can be transmitted per second. Low-end connectivity solutions can be provided using ISDN lines or Centrex Data lines, where ISDN is not supported. Mid-range solutions can be provided using radio frequency, T1 or LAN Emulation over ATM. High-end solutions use fibre optics.

Currently the network connectivity between the Toronto City Hall and Metro Hall administrative centres and the Computer Data Centre at 703 Don Mills Road is a fibre-optic network. The other administrative centres are connected using ISDN lines. Large distributed

nodes, such as the Records and Archive Centre, and the Printing and Graphics Site, are connected using T1 lines. Smaller distributed nodes are connected using a combination of dial-up service, Centrex Data, ISDN and Radio Frequency.

For planning purposes it has been assumed that the seven civic administration centres will continue to be major nodes in the global network with multiple service requirements for a large number of staff. The large staff population will require access to productivity tools. This will drive the need for a high-capacity global network to connect these sites to the centralized Computer Data Centre. This report proposes that these seven nodes be connected using a high-speed network. In addition, this report recommends that the Archives and Records centre and the Ambulance Headquarters also be connected as part of the initial implementation.

With application architectures moving towards multi-media, browser-based access, and high-volume graphics, high-speed networking will be essential to the organization.

Currently the amalgamated organizations deliver office automation/productivity software such as word processors, spreadsheets and presentation software using Novell=s file and print services. Novell requires high-capacity networks to deliver its services at an acceptable performance level.

A centralized data centre would provide consolidated server platforms for application and data services. By consolidating smaller distributed servers, resources are maximized, as they are required to manage, maintain and operate fewer platforms. Without consolidation, there would be a requirement for server platforms at each major node. These distributed platforms would require on-site staff to manage, maintain and operate these resources. Staffing requirements for a distributed environment would be larger as the ability to share and spare employees would be restricted. In addition, the synchronization of data and the ability to obtain corporate information would be made significantly more complex.

In order to provide centralized administration of distributed services, it is recommended that fibre-optic technology be utilized to provide the high-speed wide area connectivity required. This technology has a significant lifetime - in excess of 20 years. It should also be noted that network protocols such as FDDI, ATM and gigabit-Ethernet service all utilize fibre optics.

A Request for Quotation (RFQ) was issued on November 4th, 1997. The City of Toronto Purchasing Department notified 94 vendors that the RFQ was being issued, 24 vendors picked up a copy of the RFQ and 6 bids were evaluated to determine the most cost-effective method for implementing the high-speed network.

The options considered for Phase 1 were either buying the fibre or leasing the fibre. The lease option was for a 1-year term with the 2nd and 3rd year optional with a penalty for not taking up the optional years.

The opportunity to bid was provided to both public and private vendors and carriers. These included public utilities, telecommunication providers and private companies. The RFQ closed on November 20th, 1997. The recommended solution was selected based on the cost-effectiveness and the ability to meet the implementation schedule.

Bell Canada was the successful bidder. The Bell lease price for the fibre was significantly lower than the next solution, which was a purchase alternative.

The Quotations have been reviewed by Purchasing and Material Supply and they concur with the recommendation. The Manager, Fair Wage and Labour Trades Office, has reported favourably on the firm recommended.

Bell has proposed a leased-fibre solution with the necessary termination equipment offering high-speed connectivity to an ATM Core Network. Their proposal is based on a monthly lease payment for 3 years. The Transition Team directed staff to enter into 1-year agreements. As a result, penalty clauses for cancellation during the 2 optional years are being negotiated. As a result of Bell=s current fibre install base, they have agreed to a target implementation date of 10 weeks from contract approval.

Upgrades to the cabling of the administrative centres will occur in parallel with the implementation of the high-speed global network. Again Bell Canada was the successful bidder. They provided a flat rate proposal for the 900 data cable drops, which equates to $86.10 per drop, which was significantly lower than all other quotations

The following table outlines the expenditures over the next 3 years:

The next phase of the network implementation, addressing remote sites, is subject to clarification of the business and operational components of the new city and the finalization of the employee population density at each location. This implementation is planned over a 24-month period.

Conclusions:

A leased solution for the implementation of the high-speed fibre network will provide the City of Toronto with a cost-effective solution that requires minimal up-front capital investment. Additional benefits of this proposal include lower implementation risk and greater flexibility for expansion and upgrades in future.

Contact Name and Telephone Number:

Lana Viinamae, 392-4548

Jim Andrew

Interim Lead, Information & Technology

Margaret Rodrigues

Acting Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services