EoW September 2013

News Corporate

Fibre across the battlements of York

to make the connection whilst taking great care to ensure that the natural beauty of the countryside and village were not compromised in any way. St Mary’s and Askham Richard have now gone from being a location that would probably never have got a decent Internet connection straight to being able to access gigabit speeds thanks to the investment in fibre infrastructure by CYC and CityFibre. CityFibre has also completed the connection of five new camera locations to the City of York Council’s dedicated CCTV digital network running on the metro fibre core. This brings the total number of cameras connected to 120, with more planned. Rob Hamlin, director of business development at CityFibre, said: “At a time when many UK towns and cities are looking to encourage investment in fibre infrastructure and the need for gigabit connectivity is growing, York is leading the way with its collaborative approach. “CityFibre’s model and expertise in designing and deploying networks enables CYC to increase its connected footprint and hook-up additional sites as required, in a cost efficient and timely fashion. “The fibre infrastructure is 100 per cent future-proofed, ready for the addition of even more connections. Our approach to building gigabit cities ensures that use of the infrastructure can be maximised to reach every community within a city.” CityFibre – UK Website : www.cityfibre.com

City of York Council (CYC) along with partners CityFibre and Pinacl Solutions, is striding ahead with its aim of becoming the most digitally connected city in Europe by 2015 by extending its state-of-the-art pure fibre network. Already connecting over 100 council sites, more than 60 schools and CCTV camera locations, the network reach has recently been expanded to include St Mary’s Primary School in the village of Askham Richard and a number of additional new CCTV locations, which are now benefitting from gigabit speed connectivity. “Our growing pure fibre footprint puts us ahead of many other UK towns and cities in terms of our digital connectivity,” said Coun James Alexander, leader of City of York Council. “Digital infrastructure is crucial to underpinning our jobs and growth agenda and along with CityFibre and Pinacl Solutions, we intend to maximise its benefits for the people who live, work and visit here. We will continue to add new premises and services to the network to best support our city’s needs both now and into the future.” St Mary’s Primary is one of the last few schools to be connected to the fibre infrastructure. It joins the growing list of schools in York reaping the benefits of a high-speed Internet connection, ensuring schoolchildren and teachers have access no matter where they are located. CityFibre rose to the challenge posed by the school’s rural location, which is one of the furthest away from the metro fibre network. CityFibre laid an additional 3.58 kilometres of fibre

29

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2013