Dixon to approve spending $60,000 upgrading office phones
City officials say the upgrade is necessary to prevent against possible attacks against the phone network.
(Photo by Leonid Mamchenkov via Flickr Creative Commons)
City officials in Dixon are expected to approve a measure that will allow the city manager to spend more than $60,000 toward an upgrade of the city government's telephone system.
The measure is part of a consent calendar that is expected to be rubber-stamped at Tuesday's city council debate. Consent calendar items are often selected when there is little reason to believe the matters will raise objections or otherwise generate discussions within the city council or members of the public.
In a memo reviewed by Solano News Update, Dixon's city manager Jim Lindley said the local government's current phone network has reached its presumed end of life because the contractor currently used by the city government, ShoreTel, is no longer in business.
"ShoreTel ceased operations as a company when it was acquired by Mitel," Lindley wrote. "The software and hardware have reached the end of its service support life."
Lindley said the City of Dixon has the option to upgrade the system to one that is compatible with Mitel or look elsewhere for its telephone platform and related services. After reviewing six different options, city officials determined Belmont-based RingCentral fit the needs of the city at the lowest cost.
RingCentral, Lindley wrote, has offered to provide its Internet-based phone platform to the city's government for around $2,900 a month plus taxes and fees. Lindley estimated the annual cost of the phone service would be nearly $40,000.
Apex Technology Management, the city's contractor for information technology (I.T.) services, has agreed to facilitate the upgrade for a one-time fee of around $31,000, the memo said. The total cost for the first year of service with RingCentral and Apex's fees included would wind up being $61,352.
Lindley said unlike their agreement with ShoreTel, which required the City of Dixon to purchase hardware and related support software, a proposed agreement with RingCentral would allow the government to purchase hardware and service from the company under a lease program.
Though the ShoreTel system continues to operate, Lindley wrote that city officials were "aware of other jurisdictions who have suffered serious data breaches that were perpetrated by accessing vulnerable [Internet-based phone] systems."
"The City [of Dixon] is pre-emptively looking to replace equipment and software to provide the best security to protect [the] City before the current system is unsupported," Lindley wrote.
Though the measure is expected to sail through the council with placement on the consent calendar, a council member or a member of the public can request it be amended to a discussion item in order to comment on the matter.
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