Until now, backing up the town’s electronic records to on-site servers was done at slow megabit speeds. That will change this month when town offices will connect for the first time via fiber optic cable to the state’s speedy Nutmeg Network—and the back-ups will be done in just minutes.

Most important, the faster data transmission speeds means that the town’s daily data and records back-ups can also be uploaded to the cloud (the term for accessible, off site storage). Why is this important? When town data and records are uploaded to a cloud storage service automatically every few hours, it makes this information accessible remotely by authorized employees in the event of a disaster that could close Town Hall.

“Back-ups of town records to the cloud now can be made at gigabits speed. Town data backups will be done in minutes,” said Town Information Technology Manager Larry Hayden.

What this means is that even if a major power outages or storm should close Town Hall, authorized town employees could access town accounting system records, permit files, and databases, as well as other data, from a remote location. Town government could continue to operate.

A state grant of $22,000 paid for the town to connect to the Nutmeg Network. The funds paid for work to string a fiber-optic cable from Town Hall to a state Nutmeg Network hub in the server room of the Old Saybrook school district’s central office. The grant’s funds also will support Hayden’s efforts to make other Town Hall equipment upgrades that will facilitate the new faster data transmission speeds.

“The Nutmeg service will cost the town $170 per month for a connection capable of 1.5 gigabits of [transmission] speed,” said Hayden. “This is orders of magnitude faster than our old AT&T system and about 20 times faster than our Comcast connections.”

By December 2015, 56 of 89 towns that received Nutmeg Network grants were already connected to the system.

The new fiber optic cable connection to Town Hall was made on Dec. 1, but to connect to each Town Hall office will require network and computer upgrades to take advantage of the faster speeds. Hayden has been making equipment upgrades office by office since Dec. 1. He’s optimistic that all Town Hall offices will be capable of connecting with the new network by Jan. 15.

“The grant includes funding for upgrading Town Hall network equipment to enable multiple redundant connections,” Hayden told the Board of Education last month.

Hayden spoke to the Board of Education to explain why the connection to the Nutmeg Network would be made in the school district’s server room. The room serves as the anchor site for the state’s high-speed networks, but Town Hall servers and school district servers will each have fire walls protecting data in their purview and control.

The next milestone, once all Town Hall offices are connected and equipment upgraded, is to begin uploading town records routinely to the cloud. This step will require the town to choose and contract with a firm to provide it with offsite data storage services in the cloud.

“By the middle of February, the town should be contracting with a back-up cloud vendor,” said Hayden.

At that point, the Town of Old Saybrook should have a reliable and seamless disaster recovery system in place for town government operations. In the event of an emergency, authorized town employees could access town records and systems remotely and still continue the business of town government.

The State of Connecticut operates and maintains three high-speed fiber-optic networks to which municipalities and school districts have access: the Nutmeg Network, for municipal governments; the Public Safety Network, for police departments; and the CT Education Network for school districts.

Town Phones Upgraded

In another move, the town government’s telephone system also recently got an upgrade. Town sites affected by the new system upgrade include Town Hall, the Firehouse, the Emergency Operations Center, and the Acton Public Library, among others.

“Everyone will now have a direct-dial line,” said Hayden. “There are also up to 45 additional incoming phone numbers now available.”

Town employees in December 2015 received training on how to use the new telephone system.