Although the DfES funding of the Wired up Communities project ended in March '03 Carpenters Connect continues to develop and in December '03 the Home 2 Home project was awarded SRB funding of £110,000 to assist in its development as a community enterprise. In October '04 further ERDF funding was also achieved.
Below is a list of scheduled project events, and key milestones and deliverables.
First year birthday party for Carpenters Connect - 28th November '03
Launch of Carpenters Connect Service - 14th November '02
Web Smart launch - 2nd July '02
Launch of Home to Home Service & alpha testing - 6th July '02
The project plan agreed with DfES slipped extensively mainly as a result of procurement difficulties followed by more than three months delay on the trenching contract. The project launched on 14th November '02.
Project developed and details agreed. - done '01
SRB grant awarded and jobs advertised - done '01
Project staff recruited - done '01
Main infrastructure contract awarded - done '01
Cabling of first block commenced - done '01
Groundworks contract commenced - done '01
Set top boxes developed and tested - done '01
Backbone system connecting all Centres completed - done March '02
Servers purchased and installed - done May '02
Contract agreed with Media Trust for content development - done
Service interface developed - done Oct '02
Estate portal developed - done Oct '02
Initial Promotional material prepared - done
Alpha Testing - done Sept/Oct '02
Beta Testing - Oct/Nov '02
User training commences - Oct '02
Project launched - Nov '02
Main Set Top Box installation - Nov/Dec '02
Wiring of all properties completed - planned Dec '02 *
*Most properties wired but some require Cat5 termination and testing which will be done the same time as the Set Top boxes are installed.