When you have a government department in charge of providing utility engineering and building services on a non-stop basis, that department needs the most up-to-date network backbone. Accordingly, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), of Hong Kong Government, has "gone live" with a Huawei-3Com 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10G) network with intelligent resilient framework technology (IRF).

EMSD provides electrical, mechanical, electronic engineering and building services for government departments and public institutions in Hong Kong. The department lays down guidelines that ensure public safety in the installation and maintenance of electrical, mechanical and gas engineering areas. To offer its services over a 24-hour centralized data network, EMSD needed a 10G network from core to edge, capable of connecting up to 100 remote sites.

The network which became operational in EMSD"s new eight-floor, 98,000 sqm office space in Kowloon Bay, enables VoIP and multimedia applications such as video conferencing and web casting. It will also cater for increase in data, voice and video traffic in coming years as EMSD boosts its provision of IT services for other government departments.

EMSD deployed an entire network of Huawei-3Com"s switch family including Quidway S8500, Quidway S6500 and Quidway S3500. Rose Chen, President of International Marketing and Sales at Huawei-3Com was quoted as saying, "Huawei-3Com offers the most comprehensive 10G solutions on the market and has considerable experience in the government sector. We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with EMSD in the development of this pioneering new network for the Hong Kong government."