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Melrose looks to profit from high tech
The City of
Melrose has completed a major upgrade to its technology infrastructure
and is working on a deal to lease its services to other communities,
Melrose Mayor Robert Dolan announced on Monday.
The upgrade, which was paid for with grant funding provided through the city's cable contract with Verizon, improved the city's Wide Area Network to provide better Internet connections for the Melrose Public Schools and municipal buildings, Dolan said.
It also allows the city to embark on the unprecedented regionalization of IT services between cities and town. Dolan said several nearby cities have expressed interest in paying Melrose to provide select technology services.
The upgrade, which was paid for with grant funding provided through the city's cable contract with Verizon, improved the city's Wide Area Network to provide better Internet connections for the Melrose Public Schools and municipal buildings, Dolan said.
It also allows the city to embark on the unprecedented regionalization of IT services between cities and town. Dolan said several nearby cities have expressed interest in paying Melrose to provide select technology services.
“It's a win-win for both communities,” he said of the pending
agreements. “Together the City of Melrose and our partner communities
can pool resources and provide their constituents with high quality IT
services at significant savings to both communities.”
The Melrose data center, located at City Hall, is already capable of taking over functions such as e-mail and databases for outside communities, IT Director Jorge Pazos said. Consolidating the centers, while new for municipalities, is becoming more and more common for private companies with multiple locations, he said. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently moved all of its IT operations into two data centers, down from 183.
“We're not making up technology,” Pazos said. “This is out there.”
Once the initiative gets underway, Pazos and Dolan are hopeful that it will be used as a model by the state of a cost-saving measure that is also environmentally friendly - data centers must be air conditioned year-round.
The city is also looking to upgrade its own website, which receives 40,000 individual hits a month, Dolan said. Funding sources have yet to be secured, but Pazos said the changes should be finalized by July.
The Melrose data center, located at City Hall, is already capable of taking over functions such as e-mail and databases for outside communities, IT Director Jorge Pazos said. Consolidating the centers, while new for municipalities, is becoming more and more common for private companies with multiple locations, he said. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently moved all of its IT operations into two data centers, down from 183.
“We're not making up technology,” Pazos said. “This is out there.”
Once the initiative gets underway, Pazos and Dolan are hopeful that it will be used as a model by the state of a cost-saving measure that is also environmentally friendly - data centers must be air conditioned year-round.
The city is also looking to upgrade its own website, which receives 40,000 individual hits a month, Dolan said. Funding sources have yet to be secured, but Pazos said the changes should be finalized by July.
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