Building a Resilient Network Foundation for County Government
The Challenge
County governments depend on centralized IT services to deliver applications, internet access, and digital services across departments. As reliance on these systems increases, so does the operational risk associated with outages, latency, or single points of failure.
The regional county operated a centralized IT model where network services, internet access, and application connectivity flowed through a primary data center. While the county had invested in a secondary site intended as a backup, it operated largely as a passive environment with limited infrastructure and limited ability to support production workloads.
The engagement began as a request to review a hardware bill of materials for network switching. However, as conversations progressed, it became clear that the core issue wasn’t hardware selection; it was architectural alignment.
IT leadership needed clarity around:
-Whether proposed infrastructure purchases supported long-term resiliency goals
-How effectively the secondary site could contribute during an outage
-Where single points of failure existed across the internet edge, security, and core network
-How to reduce operational risk without introducing unnecessary complexity
What appeared to be a routine refresh quickly revealed a broader need to rethink the county’s network foundation.
Rather than validating individual hardware components, the county’s IT team wanted to ensure future investments directly supported continuity, security, and scalability. Key objectives included:
Our Approach:
The engagement evolved from a hardware review into a design-focused discussion as the county clarified its long-term resiliency objectives. The emphasis shifted from individual products to defining the outcomes the county needed to achieve.
This included full active-active resiliency, a redundant and fault-tolerant internet edge, and consistent access to applications and services across both sites. This ensured infrastructure decisions were driven by strategic intent and operational continuity, not short-term replacement cycles.
Moving from Point Solutions to Resilient Architecture
With a validated design in place, the engagement moved from planning into execution. NRI worked alongside the county to translate the architecture into a deployable solution, including:
- Developing a detailed implementation plan and statement of work
- Deploying redundant network and security infrastructure across both sites
- Testing failover scenarios to ensure continuity during outages
- Resolving implementation challenges as the environment moved into production
The result was an environment in which both sites actively support county operations, rather than having one serve solely as a backup.
Extending Resiliency Through Regional Collaboration
A critical element of the project was close coordination with WiscNet, the regional fiber cooperative used by many regional government entities.
NRI partnered with both the county and WiscNet to align routing and redundancy changes across provider and county infrastructure. This collaboration enabled higher levels of resiliency not only within the county’s data centers but also across upstream connectivity.
The design now serves as a repeatable model that can be applied across other counties, leveraging similar regional networks.
The Outcome
By shifting from a tactical refresh to an architectural strategy, the county achieved:
- Full active-active redundancy across primary and secondary sites
- Improved resilience at the internet edge, security layer, and application access
- Reduced risk of service disruption for county departments
- A scalable network foundation aligned with long-term operational needs
- Greater confidence in future infrastructure decisions
The greatest value was the confidence that the network can reliably support continuity, security, and future growth.