A Village located in the Southwest suburb of Chicago that boasts a population of over 55,000 people needed help to operate critical public safety services across police precincts, fire departments, and a 911 dispatch center, alongside multiple municipal departments and over 500 employees. With public safety relying on uninterrupted network connectivity, reliable and secure data transmission is essential to sustaining daily operations and emergency response. Below is how we designed and executed a complete network hardware replacement for a village that could not afford downtime.
The Problem:
The client needed to replace aging Cisco network hardware that had reached end-of-life and end-of-support. Key challenges included:
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- Existing support contracts had expired, leaving the village without manufacturer assistance for critical infrastructure and exposed to cybersecurity threats.
- Legacy hardware was limited to 1GB bandwidth, constraining performance across all departments.
- The network supported police, fire, 911 dispatch, and public works. Any outage could directly impact emergency services.
- A fragmented hardware environment made monitoring and management difficult.
- The Village required a solution that would maintain functionality equivalence while delivering a significant performance upgrade.
The Solution:
Scientel Solutions proposed a complete Fortinet hardware refresh, including firewalls and switches, with professional installation services to ensure a smooth transition. Details of the solution included:
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- Deployment of FortiGate firewalls to provide enterprise-grade cybersecurity and throughput.
- Installation of FortiSwitches across Village facilities.
- Network isolation of core public safety services
- Professional installation services coordinated with every department to ensure minimal disruption.
- All equipment is backed by FortiCare Premium support for continuous security upgrades against potential vulnerabilities.
Key Solution Features:
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- Full replacement of end-of-life Cisco hardware with modern, supported Fortinet equipment.
- Significant bandwidth upgrade from 1GB to 10GB capability.
- Improved Wi-Fi coverage for worker performance.
- Enhanced visibility into network topology for easier management and monitoring.
- Coordinated deployment across police, fire, 911 dispatch, and municipal departments.
The Result:
Following deployment, the Village received a dramatically faster, more secure, and more manageable network infrastructure. The outcomes were:
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- Police and dispatch security camera networks are fully isolated and operational with no downtime.
- OSPF routing re-established across three core fiber-connected locations with tested failover capabilities.
- Guest Wi-Fi securely isolated from internal networks with captive portal functionality verified.
- VoIP call quality and QoS policies were confirmed post-migration with no disruption to phone services.
- A future-ready foundation capable of supporting the village’s growing technology needs.
With this solution, the Village can rest assured that its critical public safety and municipal networks are fast, secure, and professionally supported. In addition, other crucial public resources like the fire department can utilize this network without worry or hassle. For any public agency facing aging network hardware, expired support contracts, or the need for greater bandwidth and reliability, this village’s experience demonstrates the value of a strategic infrastructure modernization. To learn how to enhance a municipal network, click below to connect with our team.