Cisco Cisco 2700 Series Wireless Location Appliance White Paper
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White Paper
Improving Government Services and Constituency Satisfaction
Using the Cisco Unified Wireless Network
Using the Cisco Unified Wireless Network
This white paper describes how government entities can employ wireless LAN mobility services to improve
efficiency and constituency satisfaction.
SUMMARY
State and local governments face an array of challenges—an aging population straining existing resources, continuing demands to improve
security and disaster responsiveness, and a desire to improve government services. While information technology solutions alone cannot
solve these complex problems, technology can improve efficiency and increase communication between government employees and their
constituents. Wireless LANs in particular are uniquely positioned to help government agencies address many of these issues by becoming
the platform for intelligent wireless LAN mobility services. This paper explains how the mobility services of the Cisco
®
Unified Wireless
Network can improve the delivery of government services.
TRENDS DRIVING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT IT
Three trends point to the need for pervasive wireless LANs within government organizations. A 2005 Forrester Research study
1
of
government IT executives found that the highest priorities remain improving security and business continuity. While shoring up security
has been a major theme for several years, 71 percent of respondents reported that improving security is still the highest priority for IT
spending; 66 percent rated business continuity as the highest priority. Another important concern expressed by IT managers in government
was the need to replace existing employee computing equipment, including laptops, with over 66 percent of government respondents
indicating that this was a priority. Because over 90 percent of laptops today come equipped with wireless LAN capability, it’s not
surprising that this trend is closely coupled with the desire to enable employee mobility.
Government workers are one of the most mobile of all workforces. From maintenance personnel to healthcare workers and transportation
employees, thousands of government workers perform their jobs on the go every day. Like their private sector counterparts, government
entities have discovered that wireless LANs are an important component of a mobility strategy to enable employees to be more productive.
Not surprisingly, the Forrester Research study found that government has the highest percentage of employees who require mobility—a full
31 percent. This percentage is more than that for any private sector industry.
PERVASIVE WIRELESS LANS REINFORCE GOVERNMENT IT OBJECTIVES
A pervasive wireless LAN capability is the common element in all these trends. Pervasive wireless LANs and laptops significantly advance
a government organization’s business continuity plan. Employees can easily move to an unaffected area of a building or campus and
instantly be connected to the network. If necessary, the WLAN itself can be easily removed and set up at a new location, allowing
operations to start up much more quickly than in an all-wired network environment. Employees can even connect directly in ad hoc mode
if the need arises.
Beyond business continuity, pervasive wireless LANs enable government organizations to improve productivity and reduce costs day-to-
day. And government IT executives know this, with over 90 percent adopting wireless LANs, according to the Forrester Research study.
As laptop prices have come down dramatically and embedded WLAN capability has become standard, it’s become much easier to turn
employee mobility into a net positive. New centralized wireless LAN architectures, such as the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, now make
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“State and Local Government Data Center Spending Trends: 2005,” September 20, 2005, Forrester Research