15th March 2007

Schools may be aware that work has been underway to improve the main Internet feed that the Broadband Sandwell network uses. Previously this was supplied commercially by the ISP company (Synetrix) and was limited to 50Mbit/second, extra bandwidth was purchased as and when required, but at considerable cost.

Late last year Ukerna (the supplier of Internet services to Universities and Colleges via SuperJanet), offered to allow their Internet feed to be used at no cost by Local Authorities in the UK. Synetrix have been working with Ukerna to determine the configuration requirements that would allow schools using the Broadband Sandwell network benefit from this offer, and are "blending" the current feed with the Ukerna feed to ensure that any resulting service increases the available bandwidth and does not compromise reliability and security.

This new Internet supply will therefore give us:

• greater bandwidth at no extra cost
• the facility to switch over to a backup Internet feed should problems occur (based on the present Internet supply)

Preliminary tests have been completed to ensure that the new service will work, but final testing will inevitably involve a "live" test, at a time when there is activity on the Internet, i.e. during term time rather than in holidays.

We will be carrying out this test on 27th March 2007, for one day. During this day we would expect Internet access to be equivalent or perhaps better than usual; please report any faults promptly to our helpdesk on 0121 569 2400.

If the test results in complete failure we will instruct Synetrix to immediately switch back to the usual Internet feed.

If there are any minor faults we will note and attempt to rectify them without switching back.

At the end of the day, if successful, we will not switch back to the (current) feed, but will at that point begin to make use of the improved service.

If you wish to discuss this, please call me.

Keith Chandler

0121 569 2400