DiData lands £5m Isle of Man comms deal

Dimension Data has won a £5m contract for a converged IP-based IT and telephony infrastructure for the Isle of Man government that aims to significantly drive down telecommunications costs.

The deal, called 'Connect Mann' is for three years and covers the design, supply, implementation and support of the new network.

Dimension Data is working with Manx Telecom to roll out a network infrastructure that will connect 189 of the Isle of Man's government offices and the Cisco-based infrastructure will enable 5,000 government employees across 12 departments migrate to an IP telephony system.

The project is part of the Isle of Man's wider e-government programme, called 'Joined UP Information for the Electronic Resident' (Jupiter).

Nigel Thomas, Connect Mann programme manager at the Isle of Man government, said in a statement: "Importantly, we anticipate the migration across to an IP telephony-based solution will help us realise huge cost savings and will also give us the ability to seamlessly add new users as we expand our services."

The project began in 2004 and is due to complete this year.