Passport problems
Recently, Secure Channel experienced an overwhelming demand in usage due to the sudden surge of Canadians clamouring to apply for their passports online, to meet the new U.S. travel regulations.
Passport Canada was quick to point out that it was Secure Channel which was experiencing technical difficulties due to this demand and the network should only be used at certain times to alleviate its constant crashing.
"The truth is, that demand was not forecast on the network by the passport office, and it did create a very high demand for those using Secure Channel," says Poole.
"One of the solutions to help them was to limit access to the downloadable file. We did that in concert with them, but the reality was they did not have enough infrastructure capacity themselves to deal with this."
Poole highlights this joint effort as a solid example of collaboration between two federal government departments.
"Passport Canada was asking PWGSC to throttle the amount of transactions they could process, but this was coordinated with them. PWGSC worked in tandem with Passport Canada and they're now operating at 100 percent capacity. But they had to do a lot of work internally.
"If anything, this is a great example of collaboration and coming together to solve what was unprecedented demand."
The way forward
Secure Channel has been part of the Government Online Canada (GoC) program for several years, says Poole.
"This project played an integral part in helping Canada become rated number one for five years in a row [by consulting company Accenture], for its ability to connect with its citizens and businesses online," says the executive.
"PWGSC takes it really seriously, protecting the integrity of Canadians and Canadian businesses. We know it requires some investment, but we're really proud of the work we have done here so far."
Secure Channel forms the centrepiece of Canada's common information technology infrastructure, asserts Poole. "Canadians know we have a secure and private infrastructure second to none in the world."
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