Welcome to the Enabling Technology section of  www.ehampshire.org

 

eHampshire (formerly Hampshire Broadband), has helped bring broadband-connectivity to every exchange across Hampshire.

 

99.6% of the county’s population now has the possibility to access the Internet using Broadband and virtually all of the County’s 50,000 or so VAT registered businesses have the same opportunity. eHampshire, through its many forms of interaction with business and the community at large, including connection grants, workshops, web-based information and advice sessions, has to date helped over 1000 enterprises understand the potential benefits of ICT to their daily business.

 

A network of hot-spots has also been established across the County (www.ehampshire.org/hotspots) achieving the programme goal that, wherever you are in the County, you are never more than ten minutes away from a wireless connection.

 

In Hardware terms, the infrastructure is made up of routers, switches, fibres, cables, twisted-pairs and multiplexers and the combination of these determines the speed of the network.

 

But, it is the use of the infrastructure that is key to the economic and social wellbeing of the County.  It can help deliver dramatic increases in efficiency and productivity through eCommerce and eBusiness websites, but it can also deliver social interaction, through community websites, social forums, social networking sites such as Myspace and Bebo can lead to greater social cohesion.

 

In business and economic terms, the very same technology is helping Hampshire businesses of all sizes to enter and compete competitively in increasingly global-markets. Through its increasing reach, the technology helps encourage those currently economically in-active, back into work, even helping to overcome physical obstacles to working. In terms of skills development, the very same technology can bring learning to the learner (e-learning) reducing the need to travel to attend class-room learning.

 

Technology  is therefore not unsurprisingly a core part of SEEDA’s (South East England Development Agency)  Regional Economic Strategy.  It can help towards sustainable development (Smarter-Working reduces the need for commuting, congestion and office space) and Teleworking can help overcome local skills shortages.

 

For the rural economy, Technology helps level the playing field by enabling rural businesses to compete more effectively with their urban counterparts. For example, technology can help overcome the daily out-commuting problems suffered by many of our smaller rural towns. These can leave high streets empty during the working day putting at risk the viability of retailers, local community amenities and leisure facilities.

 

As for the future, the 2007/08 eHampshire Technology programme will focus upon: