Cisco Aironet 1100 Series

Located directly across the Potomac River from Washington D.C., Arlington County, Virginia covers 26 square miles and serves nearly 200,000 residents. As home to the Pentagon and Ronald Reagan National Airport, Arlington County often attracts national attention. Its fire and police departments were first to arrive at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, for example, and in the following weeks the county's incident commander assumed control of operations for emergency response.

Top priorities for Arlington County are public safety, expanding and extending the reach of e-government services, and economic development. "Nearly half of our population is under 40 years old and tech-savvy, and they demand online government services and outdoor wireless access," says Christopher T. David, chief technology officer. The remainder of the population is diverse, and the county is committed to bridging the "digital divide" by providing network access to citizens who cannot afford it at home.

The Arlington County IT department had nearly completed its design for a new network to replace its leased lines when the events of September 11 transpired. Arlington County reworked its network design with a renewed emphasis on the reliability and availability required to deliver vital citizen services during times of emergency.

Arlington County built its new fiber-optic network based on Cisco network solutions, which provide the reliability that public safety agencies require. "When we deployed the Cisco foundation infrastructure, we immediately experienced a 30 to 50 percent increase in stability across the entire network compared to using T1 leased lines," says David.

The county extended the network to one agency at a time, beginning with its ten fire stations in January 2002, trade centers and water pollution control sites in February 2002, and the Department of Human Services (DHS) in March 2002.

By June 2002, just 228 days after the first agency connected to the network, all 40 county sites were enabled. In 2005, Arlington extended its network to the City of Alexandria, which lies outside the county boundaries, to facilitate interagency collaboration. Now public safety agencies in the two jurisdictions can use the network to share criminal databases, Geographic Information System databases, and more.

The Cisco network can carry voice and video as well as data, creating new process efficiencies that improve public safety and citizen services. For example, the fire department uses Cisco video solutions to broadcast a real-time training broadcast directly to each fire station, avoiding the time and expense of creating and delivering ten copies of a videotape. "First responders can watch the training at any time, at any location with access to the government network," says David. "This is a far more effective process for public safety education."

Effective emergency response in today's world requires a combination of "guns, hoses, and technology," according to David. During emergencies, the county IT department supplies the technology component by deploying either a mobile command vehicle or smaller "crash cart" to the emergency scene, providing instant wired and wireless connectivity for voice, video, and data. The technology command vehicle and crash cart provide the Cisco technology to connect via the fastest connection available at the site: Ethernet, satellite, DSL, wireless, or even dial-up. Cisco IP phones facilitate communication throughout the chain of command. "By providing commanders in any location with greater situational awareness through voice and video, the crash cart and mobile command vehicles avoid the need to deploy the entire chain of command to the scene," says David. "They enable a more distributed approach to emergency management. Wireless connectivity, in particular, is enabling us to de-tether public safety personnel from their desktops by making all information, applications, and voice services available from the field." The crash cart has already been used in several emergencies, including an anthrax scare.

Individual government agencies are taking advantage of the Cisco network to increase their own service effectiveness. An example is the Arlington County DHS, which works with a multitude of human service providers, primarily nonprofit organizations that provide services to homeless shelters, battered-women shelters, advocacy services, outreach services, and others. Previously, many of these organizations had very limited networking capabilities, impeding their effectiveness and also making it difficult for the DHS to meet myriad reporting standards in response to state and federal requirements. DHS provided connectivity at low cost by equipping each partner site with a cable modem that connects service organizations to the local cable provider's network, which in turn connects to the county network. As of early 2006, DHS had connected nine organizations comprising 22 individual sites. "The Cisco network solution helps us meet our goal for cost-effective delivery of community-based human services," says Tim Tomlinson, chief of automation services for the DHS.

Wireless access benefits citizens as well as county employees and service providers. Arlington County offers all residents and visitors free wireless access from public areas such as libraries.

The reliable, available network positions Arlington County to introduce new voice, video, and data services as the need arises. For example, the Arlington County Water Authority is reformulating its water pollution control plan to include network-based sensors for monitoring chemical levels, water pressure, and more. Sensor data could be sent over the network, so that it can be monitored constantly, enabling the Water Authority to detect and correct irregularities more quickly. Public safety agencies are investigating using their Cisco Outdoor Wireless solution in conjunction with Global Positioning System devices to monitor first responders' physical locations, not only in terms of their longitude and latitude, but also their elevation-that is, their current floor in the building.

"The Cisco network enables us to deliver more government services-more reliably and securely than ever before," says David. "It truly is an enabler for smart growth."

This customer story is based on information provided by the Arlington County, Virginia and describes how that particular organization benefits from the deployment of Cisco products. Many factors may have contributed to the results and benefits described; Cisco does not guarantee comparable results elsewhere.

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