Bournemouth pier is one of the town's most recognisable landmarks   Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA Archive/Press Association Images

The local authority representing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is to equip the area with a new £1.4m wide-area network (WAN).

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council – which came into being earlier this year via a three-way merger – has published a contract notice seeking a supplier that can install the WAN over the course of a 17-month period between 1 December 2019 and the end of April 2021.

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The network will run across 83 connected sites located throughout the three Dorset towns. In addition to which, the chosen supplier will be expected to provide the authority with connections to network-edge hardware such as firewalls, as well as Microsoft’s ExpressRoute service for establishing connections between the vendor’s datacentres and end-user infrastructure.

The supplier will be required to provide all software, hardware, connectivity, configuration and support to meet the council's requirements for the provision of the WAN,” the contract notice said. “It is essential that the supplier delivers a flexible service, with emphasis on scalability to meet the future IT requirements and service provision of BCP Council.”

The chosen firm will receive a contract lasting 41 months and worth an estimated £1.4m. Bids for the work are open until the end of this week.