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PKBA connects NT councils

IT Services firm PKBA has won a contract with local councils in the Northern Territory to provide them with voice and video-conferencing systems.
Written by Suzanne Tindal, Contributor

IT Services firm PKBA has won a contract with local councils in the Northern Territory to provide them with voice and video-conferencing systems.

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(Dusk on Finke Road image by tensaibuta, CC2.0)

PKBA would be implementing Microsoft's RoundTable series, PKBA's business development director Conrad Hilder said, as well as some Microsoft servers.

The Northern Territory had recently amalgamated 60 councils to around 12, according to Hilder, PKBA's director of business development. The amalgamation had left some of the councils reaching over large distances, with problems and high costs from travel and communication.

"Council staff and elected members are often required to travel long distances by charged plane and over unsealed roads to attend meetings and other events," PKBA CEO Mark Stead said in a statement.

Given these concerns, the councils put out feelers for a system for video-conferencing and data sharing via CouncilBiz, a subsidiary of the eight major councils which was formed to provide ICT, administrative, financial and support services to members.

Hilder said that PKBA was chosen because it provided a system that didn't need a fundamental upgrade, an opinion echoed by Vicki Wright, general manager of CouncilBiz. "The simplicity of deployment and integration with existing infrastructure were the key factors which influenced the decision to utilise PKBA," she said in a statement.

The contract was signed in April, and the roll-out would be finished in around four weeks, Hilder said.

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