Technology

In 2003 ISD was authorised to take full ownership of Isle of Man Government’s core ICT infrastructure in order to develop and maintain a single Government technology infrastructure which will support the implementation of the Jupiter programme.

ISD supplies and manages all aspects of ICT from mobile user (mobile phone, Xda, laptop), through desktop (PC, IP Phone) via integrated local and wide area IP networks, to Data Centres (converged servers, mainframes, printing, etc) and customer service (internet, kiosk, SMS, etc).

The technology choice reflects a variety of business and technology drivers, as well as the unique nature of the Isle of Man. The outcome from this is a Technical Architecture which focuses heavily on Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Unisys as core technologies. Key goals for this platform are to provide safe and secure access, in a convenient and timely manner, whether from a fixed location or elsewhere. The environment has to meet external standards to allow real-time interfaces with other users, such as UK NHSNet, and Criminal Justice Extranet.

ISD understand that one of the few constants in life is change – technology continues to evolve in line with Moore’s Law. As such, the infrastructure platform decisions taken by ISD are made with a focus on product life, evolution and integration, to allow manageable growth in line with business needs. This does require a continuous focus on technology roadmaps. ISD seek to develop managed services relationships with key suppliers which will support technology evolution and refresh when appropriate.

The Jupiter technology programme will deliver high capacity Gigabit services, end-to-end IP telephony across the whole of Government, low-cost Windows / Intel servers with mainframe class performance, and as a consequence a significant up-lift in service levels to meet the demanding needs of our island jurisdiction operating in a global economy.