City of Auburn | Information Technology

Information Technology

James C. Buston III
Assistant City Manager/CIO
Employees: 10 www.auburnalabama.org/it webit@auburnalabama.org

History

The City of Auburn demonstrated its commitment to technology in May 1996 with the formation of the Information Technology Department; thereby creating the foundation for an Information Technology Strategy for the City of Auburn. With the growing importance of Geographic Information Systems to 21st century technology and government, the Information Technology Department expanded that foundation by assuming responsibility for the City's GIS Division in 2001.

Through the tireless efforts of the Information Technology Department staff, the reputation of Auburn as a Connected Community has evolved. The staff's cooperative spirit and dedication to encouraging the electronic exchange of information and ideas have fueled the many successes of the Department. Our continuing strategy is to advance the technology offerings of the City in an economical, efficient, durable and flexible manner and in so doing assist Auburn City Government in responding rapidly to the needs of Auburn's citizens.

Background

Statistics
FY 2011

602 Networked computers
114 Networked printers
145 Non-networked printers
405 Digital IP Phones
51 Analog phones/FAX Machines
44 Physical servers
14 Virtual servers
53.3 Terra Bytes (TB) of storage space
105 Network devices (switches, routers)
42 Police video cameras
295 Southern Linc radios
39 Cell Phones
105 Cellular Air-Cards
41 Wireless access points
19 Mesh access points
22 Time clocks
15 Security systems
4 Building generators
3 Building UPS systems
2,558 Work requests processed
1,354,128 Phone calls handled
10,679,126 Email messages processed through our system (9,553,544 were blocked as SPAM or Virus, 1,125,582 were considered legitimate).

Technology is pervasive in every aspect of doing business in both the private and the public sectors. The private sector has long recognized this and as a result, many companies establish a Chief Information Officer (CIO) with expanded management responsibilities. It is not uncommon in the private sector to find a company’s CIO also a company Vice President. While this enhanced responsibility is still rare for CIOs in the public sector, the City of Auburn took the lead on August 1, 2007 by creating the position of Assistant City Manager/CIO thereby acknowledging the essential role technology plays in today’s society and demonstrating the City’s continued commitment to cost effective, efficient and innovative government.

With over 90% of Auburn’s citizens having broadband, Internet access at their homes, Auburn truly is a “connected” community. The City’s IT employees provide the appropriate technology to enable City Government to quickly and efficiently respond to the needs of Auburn’s citizens. The City of Auburn’s computer network is a converged system providing data, e-mail, telephone, voicemail, and video all over a single delivery system. Engineered and assembled entirely by the City’s IT staff, the system is maintained in-house and enjoys an extraordinary 99.999% uptime.

Recognition

IT staff members are frequently called upon by colleagues throughout Alabama and across the country to speak at conferences and to offer expertise in a variety of Information Technology related areas. Worldwide, our GIS Division is renowned for its innovative approach to the creation of applications to streamline processes ranging from public safety response times to mobile applications for storm water permit inspections. The City of Auburn’s IT Department has been recognized by the world’s leading IT companies (Microsoft, Cisco, ESRI, and others) as an example of how government IT should be done and these companies routinely send their clients to Auburn to learn from our successes.

Commitment

The staff of the Information Technology (IT) Department is dedicated to providing excellent IT services. In addition to their normal work schedule, staff members routinely work evenings and weekends to complete hardware maintenance and software updates thereby minimizing the adverse impact of this work on service delivery to Auburn’s citizens. Employees in the IT Department stay up-to-date on the latest technologies and hold a number of advanced academic degrees as well as a number of IT industry specific certifications.

History

Background

Statistics FY 2011

Recognition

Commitment

Statistics
FY 2011