Va. governor goes to conference via IP
When a scheduling conflict prevented Virginia Gov. James Gilmore from attending the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technology Symposium in Lexington last week, the state IT Department made sure he was there.
When a scheduling conflict prevented Virginia Gov. James Gilmore from attending the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technology Symposium in Lexington last week, the state IT Department made sure he was there.The department arranged a videoconference across the Commonwealth of Virginia Network so that Gilmore could present his new E-Communities program.State and WorldCom Inc. employees, with some help from Nortel Networks Corp. of Brampton, Ontario, installed a T1 line at the exhibit hall for a ViewStation MP videoconferencing unit from Polycom Inc. of Milpitas, Calif. The governor, still in Richmond, was using another Polycom system.“Most of the difficulty was setting up the T1 line” in the hall, which was not wired for T1, said Henry Brummitt, WorldCom government markets account manager. “After we got the T1 running, it was just a matter of connecting with the department.”Brummitt said it took about 20 hours to set up and test the system before Gilmore’s speech. It was the first time the department has put video on its statewide network, which primarily carries voice and data. Gilmore’s E-Communities program has three initiatives:
My Virginia, the state portal, will be expanded to assign a personal identification number for every resident who wants to conduct online transactions with state agencies. Local governments will get access to geographic information system services free of charge.
Buy Virginia, an online directory of all Virginia businesses, will list industry categories, promotions and product descriptions.
Leadership Guidebook, a list of best practices, will help local governments develop and maintain their own community portals.
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