The Champaign City Council has approved an ordinance which authorizes the City Manager to purchase network switches for the Police and Public Works Department.

Due to an increased volume of information, it has become crucial to find a faster way to transfer data to the users’ desktop.

This purchase will allow the city to begin building a faster computer network.

Champaign’s Information Technology Director, Fred Halenar, says it’s important to get the equipment replaced.

“If we don’t get it, it has the effect that we wont be able to go to the network speed. We wont be able to add, at least over at the police station, anymore new communication lines so we couldn’t add a lot of additional hardware for the police department”

Network equipment is usually replaced every five years.

Champaign has already included the replacement costs in their two thousand and six, two thousand and seven budget.