Cumulus Networks, DELL Technologies and Dutch National Police partner

Cumulus Networks, DELL Technologies and the 65,000-strong Dutch National Police have entered into a partnership that will see the single-largest government department in the Netherlands become one of the first data-driven police departments in Europe, enhancing their use of real-time data to assist Police Officers on the street.

Knowledge-driven data government agency

Peter de Beijer, who leads the Cloud, Big Data and Internet Department at the Dutch National Police - and also enjoys a 25-year forensic police background - is a firm believer in “combining the latest developments that technology can offer with daily frontline police work”.

De Beijer added: “If my colleagues on the street get the best information in real time, because of these choices, everybody is happy. We want to be a knowledge-driven data government agency instead of a government agency that only uses products.”

De Beijer, triggered by an article about open networking, did extensive research into this modern technology and discovered Cumulus Linux to be a "perfect match" for this data-driven approach to police work.

The ability to first test the IT needs of the National Police without risk in a virtual environment of the Cumulus open network operating system was well received by the government organisation. 

“The DevOps style, coding and infrastructure-as-code fits perfectly with what we had in mind. We have true development teams, they are not just engineers, as they’re coding and developing micro-services based applications. Cumulus Linux fits into this model perfectly”, De Beijer added.

The National Police introduced Cumulus on 100 Dell Technologies network switches in a greenfield site. This newly established rural location afforded the police the opportunity to build an entirely new scalable architecture from scratch. 

Joost Aarsen, Networking Sales Specialist at Dell Technologies, thinks the Dutch National Police is the perfect example of an organization that is fully benefiting from the integrated datacenter approach of Dell Technologies: “Our approach is to bring the latest innovations of server, storage and networking together in a complete solution supported by and sourced from one single vendor”. 

“Open Networking by Dell Technologies and Cumulus is giving the Police a better TCO compared to traditional solutions and therefore it leaves them with more funds to invest in the development of highly skilled people and management of this innovative big data platform” says Aarsen. “It is a true example of digital transformation where the human factor is embedded and actually driving the automation efficiencies and agile environment the business is asking for” Aarsen concludes.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Looking to the future, the large demand for AI and machine learning is driving the National Police towards containers and Kubernetes technologies to automate and streamline application deployment and management, all with the goal of getting the real-time data into the hands of agents on the street as quickly as possible.

De Beijer explained: “It’s very much demand driven. We have a large demand for AI and machine learning that is only going to grow. We want to gain more knowledge and be a knowledge and data-driven government body.”

Robby van Roosmalen, who leads Cumulus Networks in the Netherlands: “The Dutch National Police is really demonstrating that technology innovation, like utilizing open-source based solutions and really contributing to the community, is not the preserve of the private sector or Silicon Valley tech giants.”

“De Beijer and his team is leveraging open networking in an interesting way, investing in the IT knowledge of their people to better serve the Dutch people and equipping Officers on the street with the best real-time data to fight crime. We are naturally delighted with this opportunity and looking forward to a long-term partnership of innovation and growth.”