Clare Computer Solutions Moves San Ramon City Departments' Networks without Interruption of Vital City Services

(Print a PDF of this case study)

The City

 The City of San Ramon has seen considerable growth in the past decade.  Once a sleepy bedroom community nestled in the Diablo foothills, it’s now part of the bustling 680 Business Corridor.  Accordingly, the municipal infrastructure has had to make the changes necessary to keep up with that growth.

Moving Networks with No Disruption

In 2010, the City had a chance to acquire a large office space that could accommodate several City Departments that were growing out of their current locations, and also bring them under the same roof.  The Police Department, City Planning and the Engineering departments occupied several suites in a campus-style office complex, and the operational and communication efficiencies gained by putting all of them in a single location made good sense. 

Complex IT Project Done in Stages

It was a daunting task, though  - made especially challenging by the fact that a Police Department has to remain fully operational, even as data and communications infra-structure is being moved.  The City chose Clare Computer Solutions (CCS) to aid in the planning and execution of this project.  

The City made some decisions about which parts of the communications/IT infrastructure would be retained during the move and which parts would be replaced or upgraded during the process of moving.   The new sites would all have to be cabled.  Different departments worked with different vendors for goods and/or services, so CCS had to work with the departments’ preferred vendors to ensure everything would be moved according to plan.

The Plan in Action – Flawless Execution

CCS created technical plans for the data/voice cabling, upgrades to much of the routing/switching infrastructure, and the physical and re-deployment of the equipment at the new location.  The move was done in carefully orchestrated phases to ensure an absolute minimum of downtime.  First, the new destination for each department was cabled.

Next, the equipment was packed and moved – the actual time in physical transit was minimal since the new location was less than a mile from the old one.   In the cases where the department’s equipment was simply moved, with no new equipment deployed, city employees, 3rd party vendors and CCS worked together to deploy the network in its new home.  Then the network was tested and brought into full service.

To allow adequate time and resources for troubleshooting and testing, the three departments were moved over the course of several months.  The Police Department went first, and the plan was executed flawlessly.  The communications services (911, dispatch, etc.) were NEVER down during the move, and access to data was only interrupted for the few minutes it took to physically move the equipment.

Steve Keagy, the IT Manager for San Ramon at the time of move, was very pleased.  “It has been great working with everyone at Clare. They make my life so much easier as I know I can count on them, each and every time.”