COM 0634.003 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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II. Frame Relay Communications: To implement frame relay with one controller will cut our implementation and recurring costs in half. The Department of Data Systems and GTE Hawaiian Tel have been strongly urging the County of Hawaii to switch over from leased data lines to frame relay communications. (Our Police Department is planning for this switchover to take place by year 1999.) Generally, frame relay allows faster data transmissions starting at 56 kbps (versus 9.6 kpbs on leased lines) and the monthly line charge drops from $390.00 down to about $110.00 (an annual savings of $3,360.00). The startup costs for frame relay (which includes equipment and line installation) is approximately $2,500.00 for each line. Besides the faster speeds and lower monthly charge; frame relay requires no modem, provides a backup link to DDS for an additional monthly charge of $10.00 and is fully supported by the local phone company on this island. Initial research shows one IBM controller running on each frame relay line. If the additional controller is purchased for the MVR Kona office, there will be at an additional equipment costs of $2,500.00 and we'll incur another $110.00 monthly line charge at the time frame relay is implemented. III. Modem Situation: Having only one controller lessens the current risk situation with our modems. To communicate with DDS in Honolulu, there is a desktop style modem connected to the controller in Kona that's linked via leased line to another rack mounted modem at DDS that's connected to their mainframe. These two modems manufactured by Gandalf are not covered under any type of warranty nor maintenance plan as these are no longer supported by GTE Hawaiian Tel and Gandalf has said there's no known on-island support. Spare or replacement Gandalf modems cost about $900.00 each and it takes about a month to acquire these from the vendor. I've looked at the possibility of replacing the 2 modems with another brand which is supported on the Big Island but DDS has said we would need. to purchase another modem rack as the newer brands/models do not fit in their existing racks. Again, they recommend we pursue frame relay commmunications. I'm currently working on a contingency plan with the Department of Data Systems that will address our two modems being without maintenance nor backups. This plan will be in place by September in the event one of our modems becomes inoperable. Adding another controller in Kona, which requires another modem, will add more contraints into our contingency plans.