Newham was one of the first councils to put its schools online, beating incumbent telco provider BT, and it was the first council to put in its own fiber network, which Steel claims saves a six-figure sum. It is now working with the Building Research Establishment to design guidance on ducting to enable buildings to offer joined-up digital technology for local networking.

Steel and Newham hit the headlines in 2004 when it carried out a high profile trial between Microsoft applications and open source systems. Professional services organization Capgemini carried out a trial for Steel that compared the costs and benefits of the existing range of Microsoft applications with Open Source offerings. The trial was seen as the definitive test to prove the viability of Open Source as an alternative to Microsoft, but the result found Microsoft to be 68 per cent cheaper. Capgemini analyzed the cost of moving Newham from its existing NT4, Office and around 130 tailored applications onto Microsoft or Open Source. The report also suggested that Newham would save £3.2 million over five years by upgrading its Microsoft technology.

Steel subsequently signed a 10-year strategic partnership with Microsoft involving Microsoft server products, Enterprise licensing and the Software Assurance scheme to allow Newham to upgrade its software. Steel said to the press at the time: "Microsoft now seems to be an organization that is prepared to listen to us, is aware of its imperfections, and is striving to improve." Steel added that the deal offered Newham flexible terms and the ability to adapt to the changing needs of a local authority.

Placed as he is conversation inevitably turns to the e-government agenda. "It is not over ambitious, but it is not pragmatically managed," he says. "There has not been good scrutiny, for example Government Connect was a long time in coming. There should have been more focus on early delivery, you need to do things in realistic chunks."

The problem for local government, he feels, is that local programs that became priority number one did not have a top priority at central level. This is not the only cultural problem.

"There had been a tendency to set competing hares running against each other. Also, change does take time and just as something was taking traction it was dropped."

Beyond his Socitm duties and challenges at Newham, Steel has more than a passing interest in British sports cars. Twice a year he tunes out the demands of work to the raucous sound of a TVR Tuscan Targa, one of the most vocal of sports cars about. He also joins many like-minded enthusiasts once a year for a TVR club tour, which this year includes a drive through Spain and Portugal, including the opportunity to let rip on a professional circuit.

Though car-racing doesn't feature on the list of Olympic sports, it is clear that Steel is aiming to bring public sector IT up to a higher standard. And there is no doubt that his work at Socitm will help to do just that.