Council Makes Move to Secure ICT Resilience

Rossendale Borough Council has increased its resilience by amending its Disaster Recovery contract and moving its Data Centre to Wakefield and Derby to a purpose built facility. The new sites are open 24 hours a day and are equipped with the latest technology with full power generation on site.

This move has been in the Council’s plans for a long time and has taken a robust plan to execute it, with no impact to residents and services during the move. The Boxing Day floods highlighted how important and crucial this move is to the Council and protecting its systems from failure in such events.

Recent heavy rain which saw power failure at the old data centre, Hardman’s Mill, meant that the Council’s ICT system was not impacted.

The re-negotiation of the Disaster Recovery contract has also secured a 30% cost reduction to the Council.

Head of ICT and Customer Services at Rossendale Council, Andrew Buckle, stated;

“The revised contract puts Rossendale in a strong position compared to other Council’s and for a greatly reduced price. It was a proactive move by us and we’re pleased with the results.”

Councillor Barbara Ashworth, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services also welcomed the move;

“We have seen first-hand what impact pressures on our ICT resilience can have, particularly in times of crisis, this is a fantastic move by the Council making them more resilient and saving money.”