County Automation Network High Speed Network Upgrade
Overview and Installation Schedule

In an effort to improve network connections between the state and county networks, and to provide greater bandwidth and faster Internet access, the Intergovernmental Data Services Program (IDSP) is sponsoring a project to upgrade the County Automation Network.

This upgrade project consists of two components. First is the installation of a firewall in each of the state’s 93 county courthouses. Second is the installation of high-speed network connections where necessary.

Firewall: IDSP will install a firewall in every county seat to prevent unauthorized access to or from the state or county’s private network. While the state network will connect directly to the firewall, counties have the option of connecting their network to this same device in order to enjoy the same benefits. It is the network policy of the State of Nebraska that no local network that provides access to the Internet may connect to the state network unless there is a firewall between the local Internet service and the local network. Using the firewall to connect the state network to a local network maintains the integrity of each network while allowing individuals on either network to share the services of the other. The IDSP firewall will support four physical networks and up to twelve virtual networks. Where the state contracts with a local Internet Service Provider for high-speed Internet access, that service will connect through the state’s firewall. The IDSP firewall supports a local Virtual Private Network (VPN) as well as providing virus detection.

High-Speed Network Connection: The IDSP wide area network is a private network consisting of high-speed (T1) frame relay, private DSL, and public broadband service. To date, a total of 31 counties have a high-speed network. The bandwidth in the remaining 62 counties will be expanded before May 2006. To accomplish this system wide upgrade, the firewall must be installed followed by the installation of the high-speed network service.