Elblag Connects Municipal Sites Via Cisco Borderless Network Infrastructure

Polish City Builds a Network Platform to Deliver New and Enhanced Services to Residents and Visitors

ELBLAG, Poland – – Cisco today announced that the city of Elblag has chosen the Cisco® Borderless Network solution to build a municipal broadband network. Elblag is a port city in northern Poland with more than 120,000 inhabitants and access to the Baltic Sea.

A next-generation multiservice Internet Protocol (IP) network with 120 kilometers (75 miles) of optical fiber will connect local government offices, schools, nurseries, libraries and other municipal institutions. Elblag’s citizens and visitors will have access to eight Wi-Fi outdoor hot spots, as well as 20 public Internet access points, free of charge. The municipal network will also be connected to the regional broadband network of eastern Poland.
Key Facts / Highlights:

* Based on the new infrastructure, users will be able to access information and resources via multiple access methods -- both wired and wireless -- as well as various services, including data, voice and video, enabled by the network.
* The core of the infrastructure implemented in Elblag is based on Cisco 7600 Series Routers with Ethernet Services Plus (ES+) line cards, providing an effective transport of differentiated services and highly secure peering with other service providers.
* Access is provided by Cisco ME 3400E switches, whilst the wireless network is based on Cisco Aironet® 1520 Series outdoor access points. There is also a dedicated data center segment based on Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switches equipped with application acceleration and security services modules.
* The new infrastructure is opening up new ways to manage and deliver services to local inhabitants as well as to visitors and public sector workers. It will help improve communication between municipal departments located at various parts of the city and provide a base for developing e-services for citizens. There are plans to utilize the network for traffic monitoring, as well as the monitoring of sea levels via telemetry sensors, a key concern for Elblag due to its closeness to the Vistula Lagoon and the Baltic Sea.
* Asseco, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner in Poland, is leading the consortium set up for the project implementation. The project is funded from the European Union’s 2007-2013 Regional Operation Program for the Warmia and Mazury regions.

Supporting Quotes:

* Grzegorz Nowaczyk, mayor of Elbląg

“Elbląg is a city that promotes innovation. I believe that an efficient telecommunications infrastructure will increase our attractiveness to businesses that implement state-of-the-art technologies as well as to those who want to come and test new ideas. I can guarantee that our city will help them do so.”
* Witold Strzelec, councilor, Warmian-Masurian Voivodship Assembly

“This is the largest investment of this type in Poland. It is a great promotion for Elbląg and for the region, whose ambition is to lead the modern economy and innovations.”
* Piotr Skirski, regional sales manager, Public Sector, Cisco Poland

“Broadband infrastructure has become the fourth essential utility supporting the social and economic development of a country, city or community regardless of its size. Building a municipal broadband infrastructure in Elblag opens up many new opportunities for the city and its citizens. This is a showcase example of implementation of broadband infrastructure, which could be easily replicable for other cities of similar size in Poland.”

About Cisco

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.