SASAKATOON – Councillors are being asked to decide on a second internet provider to help keep Saskatoon’s website up and running during power outages. City council meets Monday to discuss the issue.
The report requests approval to proceed with a contract with SaskTel for three years to provide 200 Mbps (megabits per second) internet service for an estimated $125,604, plus taxes.
Currently, there is a single internet service into the data center in city hall. In the event of an internet provider outage or failure, or if there are power or building issues at city hall, internet services required by the website, as well as staff access to the internet for information and services, will fail.
READ MORE: Action taken after Saskatoon’s website goes down during power outage
Recent outages have caused considerable impacts to service delivery, according to the report.
In order to provide more resilient internet services to both residents and staff, a second connection will minimize outages arising from power failures and other issues experienced by a single supplier.
The city issued a request for proposal for a redundant internet connection in October 23, 2014. A review team determined SaskTel’s proposal scored the highest.
If approved, it is estimated the new service will be in place by July.
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