Decision

Procurement of firewall hardware and associated licensing to provide a firewall-protected network at the new Weyside Depot office.

Reasons for the decision

The Council is moving to a new depot site. The two sites will need to temporarily operate in-parallel. A firewall is therefore required to provide connectivity with the Internet line on-site, and to protect the Council's network from Internet threats.

Alternative options considered

A consistent firewall vendor was considered important, to enable centralised security management across network-connected sites.
The option to temporarily use a firewall decommissioned recently from the Millmead office was considered. These are however no longer in-support for vendor security updates. Use would present a security risk and would require a period of network loss at the Weyside Depot to support replacement of the out-of-support firewall as soon as the Woking Road depot was vacated. A new firewall was considered the best option to secured allow parallel operations at the two sites, as part of migration activities.