Making the announcement, Mr Price said that the completion of the consolidation project means, for the first time, that a central Department Interface Server (DIS) will provide an efficient, secure and reliable way of delivering electronic services through proven authentication, transaction routing, payments and secure mail components for all Government departments and local authorities. Prior to this, each department or local authority would have been required to procure their own DIS, but the introduction of new functionality provided with Microsoft's DIS 2004 consolidated design has enabled use to be made of a single server.
Mr Price said: "The new consolidated infrastructure provides Northern Ireland with a sound platform from which to further develop Gateway enabled e-Government Services.
"By making use of a single piece of reusable common infrastructure, both in the form of the Gateway and NI DIS, not only are costs significantly lowered but public sector bodies are able to benefit from existing services such as e-payments and authentication which could have potentially been replicated multiple times across the whole of the region."
Derek Ward, Public Sector Director at Atos Origin, the system integrator managing the project, said: "Our long-standing involvement in the success of the Government Gateway has led us to appreciate the importance of common infrastructure in providing effective e-services to citizens. Northern Ireland's decision to move to a single DIS solution will significantly decrease the times taken to deliver effective e-services to the people of Northern Ireland."
The Northern Ireland e-Government Unit has lead responsibility for promoting, monitoring and reporting on electronic Government in Northern Ireland. In particular, the Unit aims to provide strategic direction and leadership on the application of modern technology to transform the delivery of public services. Its vision is to see public services transformed to meet the needs of citizens and businesses in Northern Ireland.
The project involved a partnership with Microsoft, Atos Origin and Dell.
Microsoft is supporting the Northern Ireland E-Government Unit in the launch of the new Departmental Integration Server in Northern Ireland that will be used to connect to the Government Gateway.
Both central and local e-government officials will attend the launch together with representatives from the IT supplier community.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 05.11.2004
