Kapiti Coast Civil Defense
Case Study |
In 2006, the Kapiti Coast District Council in Wellington
decided to build an Emergency Operations Centre, after
recent flooding highlighted a need for a structure with a
protected back-up network.The new facility required the
ability to maintain local telephony and data services, as well
as automatic failover, so that in the event of an emergency,
Civil Defense operation communication, services and
coordination would still continue.
Allied Telesis was chosen for their new network solution,
providing the redundancy and load failover required for the
this civil defense operation.
Customer Profile
The Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) is one of a number of
district councils situated in and around Wellington, New Zealand.
The KCDC's overall goal is "reaffirming the Kapiti Coast lifestyle
and culture with a sustainable emphasis".
The KCDC has many different responsibilities, in areas including
community development, local body politics, district development,
public transport, road safety, animal control, waste management,
recycling, environmental restoration, public facilities, and civil
defense.
In 2004, a flood caused significant damage to their network, and
disrupted communications.To avoid this situation recurring, the
KCDC decided to build an Emergency Operations Centre
(EOC) for their civil defense operation.To protect the network in
the event of a civil emergency, they required a structure that
could withstand extreme conditions - such as an earthquake or
flooding.The EOC building itself is a custom built structure, made
from wood and plywood. It was constructed on raised piles to
minimise flood damage and uses 150mm x 50mm framing and
exterior and interior plywood walls to minimise damage in the
event of an earthquake. It is security fenced and swipe card
protected, and has its own power supply back-up provided by a
generator.
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Allied Telesis Case Study: Kapiti Coast Civil Defense
The EOC is intended as a survivable communications centre,
with the ability to maintain sufficient local telephony and data
services so that Civil Defence operation, communication, services
and coordination can still continue in an emergency, even if the
building loses contact with other networked Council sites.To
achieve this goal, the EOC needed a brand new network
solution.
The KCDC had one other main goal for the network
restructure, which was to build in redundancy for their voice and
data networks.
The KCDC selected Allied Telesis products for their new
network. As well as having the products and technical skills, Allied
Telesis had an established relationship with Cogent, who installed
the KCDC's telecommunications network.
Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
www.alliedtelesis.com