FMTC to provide fiber to the courthouse

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has approved upgrades to the courthouse’s internet provider and hardware.
IT director Sonia Morrison said she had sought out two quotes from Farmers Mutual Telephone Company for dedicated Fiber optic internet to the courthouse as well as all of the outlying county buildings including the secondary roads office and Montgomery County Conservation.
“We were quoted one gig of fiber for $4,000 per month, and 750 meg, at $3,125. We currently pay $839.99 per month for our current internet, and each building has their own internet and firewall,” said Morrison.
The current internet usage combined among all the buildings was around 800 meg, and most of the county offices outside of the courthouse were operating with only 100 meg upload and download speed per building.
Morrison said FMTC advised her 750 meg would be more than adequate for the county, and each location would have 750 meg upload and download speed internet available, which would boost service remendously.
The supervisors approved FMTC’s quote of $3,125 per month for 750 meg internet
The supervisors also discussed the purchase of upgrades to the county’s internet infrastructure.
The upgrades to equipment include new cabling and upgrading all the ethernet switches and access points in the courthouse. Morrison said the lowest quote was from Heartland Business Systems for $229,737.
“My recommendation based on costs and area of expertise would be to choose Heartland Business Systems for the network upgrades and cabling,” commented Morrison. “That quote includes installation of all equipment, and they will work with me to configure it the way we want it configured. Once we have all of it installed and up and running, it will be so much easier for Beau Boeye and I to manage.”
Morrison added that some of the courthouse’s ethernet switches cannot be updated, and licensing and warranties have expired. Additionally, some of the switches cannot be accessed remotely. They have to directly plug into the switches to make any changes.
Morrison said if approved, they could issue a statement of work to Heartland Business Systems to start getting equipment ordered.
“Some of the equipment will take 30 days for delivery, and some of it will take 45 days for delivery.
Morrison also said she would soon be approaching the supervisors to discuss an upgrade to the county’s firewall protection. With the current proposed upgrades, and a new firewall, Morrison said that would take care of a lot of the needed upgrades to the county’s IT infrastructure that were presented to the county in November 2021.
Plans involved using a portion of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funding to pay for the IT upgrades.
The supervisors approved the quote of $229,737 from Heartland Business Systems.

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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