Slavutich has become a digital city.
Information infrastructure built in the city. Slavutich (Kiev region), based on Cisco technologies, will provide new information services to city residents and will help increase its investment attractiveness.
Based on the new network infrastructure, it is planned to deploy a wide range of services, first of all, interactive portals and systems will be created to provide information services to the residents of Slavutich. In the future, all systems of interaction with city residents on issues of public utilities, as well as with entrepreneurs regarding the preparation of permits, can be combined into a single municipal contact center of Slavutich.
In addition, on the basis of the new network infrastructure, it is possible to create a centralized city system for commercial accounting of energy resources and ensuring payments for utility services. The created infrastructure will allow city authorities to implement centralized video surveillance and access control systems on streets and indoors, smart home systems, as well as deploy modern electronic services in the field of distance education and telemedicine.
The implementation of the first stage of the project lasted less than a year. On April 10, 2008, at a session of the city council, Cisco employees presented the “Digital City of Slavutich” project, and on March 26, 2009, the official ceremony of completing the technological initiative “Development, planning and management of the project for creating a city information network and radio relay communication line for the city of Slavutich” took place ”, funded by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.
At the same time, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change transferred the ownership of the built city information network to the territorial community of Slavutich for its further commercial exploitation by the social enterprise Infoclas. The mayor of the city, Vladimir Udovichenko, noted: “Although Slavutich is the youngest city in Ukraine (its construction began in 1986), we are learning quickly! We have clear development plans that provide for the transformation of Slavutich into a real city of the 21st century with the help of advanced digital technologies. And we have already taken the first step towards this.”
The project was implemented by the public organization “Small Business Laboratory” (Slavutich). The Datagroup company was selected as the general contractor for the construction of information infrastructure at an open international tender.
The system integrator of the project was the Inkom company, which has the status of Cisco Gold Partner in Ukraine.
The first stage of the project included the following work:
1. Creation of an external radio relay communication channel Chernigov-Slavutich.
2. Construction of a city information network in Slavutich based on WiMAX wireless technology, which provides high-speed reliable connection to 55 social infrastructure facilities in the city.
3. Creation of a Network Management Resource Center and a Public Internet Access Center.
4. Implementation of network management and administration systems, as well as accounting, which will be carried out through the user interface.
5. Building a technological basis to protect the system from unauthorized access.
6. Creation of resources for the future provision of such services as IP telephony, virtual private network, video on demand, video surveillance, call centers, as well as information services for municipal government, education, medicine and business.
The selection of equipment suppliers was made taking into account reliability, guarantees of communication channel protection and cost of ownership. The Cisco equipment used in the implementation of the project provided the city network with the characteristics required by the customer: the ability to scale with an increase in the number of connection objects and types of services, as well as multi-service, i.e. the ability to transmit any type of traffic.
Cisco ME 3400 Metro Ethernet switches were chosen to build a core intra-city network. They make it possible to deploy Ethernet-to-the-home (ETTH) Triple Play services across the city (three types of subscriber services: voice, data and video, based on a single access channel) and Ethernet-to-the-business (ETTB) VPN. For internal networks in the premises of municipal institutions, Cisco Catalyst 2960 switches are used.
Network protection from threats is provided by the multifunctional hardware and software complex Cisco ASA 5510, designed to solve several problems: limiting access to network resources, protecting against attacks, protecting interaction with remote areas, blocking viruses and other malware, as well as spam.
The constructed network makes it possible to transmit traffic from the Internet, corporate networks, IP telephony, video data (video conferences, video broadcasts), and local information resources. At the same time, the network and its resources are reliably protected from unauthorized access.
The implementation of the next stages of the “Digital City of Slavutich” program, including the introduction of new information services, is planned for 2009 and 2010.
Business Development Manager of the Cisco Representative Office in Ukraine Alexander Chemeris noted: “The idea of digital cities is actively developing in Ukraine, since citizens and enterprises have long been interested in receiving accessible services in electronic form, and municipal authorities have come to understand the need to provide feedback to city residents and operational communications between all elements of city government.
Similar projects with the participation of Cisco are being implemented in Kyiv and Kharkov. The city authorities of Ternopil, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkassy, Zaporozhye, Chernigov and a number of other cities in Ukraine also show interest in implementing the “Cisco Digital City” concept.