News: Fluidata enhances Digital Region

Fluidata, an aggregator of over 50 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), has signed a deal with Digital Region Limited, the company establishing a superfast broadband network for South Yorkshire.

Through a new fibre optic network, the Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people.

The contract enables Fluidata's numerous ISPs to offer superfast broadband services across the network. This will increase the number of services available to business and residential customers.

Fluidata uses its own technology to interconnect ISPs, creating a network (often into areas that are not well served by broadband providers) without each individual ISP having to invest in building their infrastructure. By removing these costs, the associated ISPs can provide services and connections at a lower rate and achieve the best possible service for the end user.

David Cowell, chief operating officer at Digital Region, said: "Signing a deal to bring Fluidata on to the Digital Region network is a great achievement.

"Now that the first build phase of the network is complete and 80% of the region is able to access superfast broadband, our aim is to increase the number of ISPs on the network. We are working on a number of deals that will help transform the region and encourage businesses to locate here."

Piers Daniell, managing director of Fluidata, added: "We are delighted to have signed a contract that allows our ISPs to offer enhanced services in South Yorkshire and gives them the opportunity to utilise such a wide reaching next generation network.

"I'm sure our ISPs will have some fantastic offers for the residents and businesses within the region."

A procurement exercise is currently underway to find a private company to take forward the Digital Region project. BT Wholesale Managed Services and ETDE SA (Entreprise de Transport et de Distribution d'Electricité) the Energy and Services Division of Bouygues Construction were announced as the shortlisted contenders.

Digital Region will move in line with the commercial model being promoted by central government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) for superfast broadband in the rest of the UK. The BDUK commercial model places the majority of risk and liability to a private sector partner. The appointed supplier takes responsibility for all operating costs, sales, marketing and revenue generation.

The £90m project was wholly owned by the now defunct Yorkshire Forward and the four local authorities of South Yorkshire. It secured £30m from the European Regional Development Fund.

Fluidata website

Digital Region website

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News: BT bids to take over the Digital Region

BT is one of two private companies bidding to take over the Digital Region project in South Yorkshire.

The superfast broadband network is being built for the region by Digital Region Ltd in partnership with technology company Thales UK. The £90m project includes £30m from the European Regional Development Fund.

The project was wholly owned by the now defunct Yorkshire Forward and the four local authorities of South Yorkshire.

The build phase has been successfully completed to time and cost but the roll out of services to customers has been delayed.

Earlier this year, each authority agreed to a preferred option to enter into a process to procure a supplier to takeover operations and management of the network in order that the network is available to, and used by, as many people and businesses as possible in South Yorkshire.

The appointed supplier is set to take responsibility for all operating costs, sales, marketing and revenue generation.

Digital Region Limited has announced that three companies have been shortlisted to go through to the next stage of an OJEU procurement process for the "Delivering the Digital Region" project.

29 expressions of interest were received in May and following subsequent stages, two bidders continue to progress through the process.

They are BT Wholesale Managed Services and ETDE SA (Entreprise de Transport et de Distribution d'Electricité) the Energy and Services Division of Bouygues Construction.

Bouygues is a French industrial group headquartered in Paris. They work in a range of areas ranging from public works, electricity and maintenance to mobile phone networks and television channels.

BT Wholesale Managed Services is the business within the BT Group that serves fixed and mobile services providers, internet service providers, communications services resellers and global broadcasters and TV production companies with the widest range of services available from a wholesale provider, regionally or nationally in the UK or across 170 countries worldwide.

David Cowell, chief operating officer at Digital Region Limited. said: "We were very impressed with the level of interest and quality of the submissions received. DRL attracted a total of 29 expressions of interest and the companies that have progressed to the next stage presented extremely high quality responses.

"Over the next few months the DRL project team will work with the shortlisted bidders to develop proposals that deliver quality and value for money for residents and businesses in South Yorkshire.

"This is a significant step in moving towards an operation that is sustainable in the long-term and no longer reliant on the public purse. Public funding could only ever be a transitional phase as the business moves to a self-supporting model with a new partner.

"This is a rigorous process that is moving along swiftly and we are on track to deliver the project successfully."

Just last month, BT announced through its local network business, Openreach, that is upgrading their high-speed fibre broadband offer in Rotherham in 2013, making a significant investment in a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies.

BT and Digital Region Limited were also in dispute over the price that BT charged for the use of their existing lines. Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, made proposals last year stating that BT be required to adjust the charges so as to "only reflect costs that are reasonably derived from costs of provision" and that "BT makes a payment to DRL / Thales to reflect any overpayments where BT's charges included costs that are not costs of provision."

The next stage of the tender process will be the invitation for the submission of detailed solutions by the shortlisted bidders in July 2012. This will be followed by an invitation to submit final tenders in September 2012. DRL aims to award the contract by December 2012.

Digital Region website

Images: Digital Region

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News: Industrial Personnel Ltd break speed record

Rotherham recruitment agency, Industrial Personnel Ltd has entered the Digital Region and now have the UK's fastest broadband connection with a download speed of 66Mbps.

The connection was provided by Digital Exchange Ltd in partnership with DRBSY Ltd. It makes use of the revolutionary new South Yorkshire fibre optic network, a unique collaboration between Yorkshire Forward and the four local authorities in South Yorkshire.

Phillip Buckley, managing director of Industrial Personnel Ltd said: "Like most businesses we are heavily reliant upon the internet to operate. Whether it's email, accessing recruitment websites or online banking we need to have access at all times. We have been using a standard broadband connection for the past couple of years but we were only getting a speed of around 3Mb.

"Now we have a high speed internet connection that is not only cost effective, but will allow us to grow our business in ways we couldn't have before. We are already looking at the possibility of video interviewing candidates via Skype or Microsoft Messenger as a way of streamlining the recruitment process."

Neville Wilkinson, Technical Director of Digital Exchange said: "We have been rolling out DRBSY VDSL connections for a couple of months now with an average connection speed of 35Mbps.

"We always run a speed test in front of the client to demonstrate the dramatic increase in performance in comparison to their old connection. We were expecting a very quick connection with Industrial Personnel Ltd due to their proximity to the street cabinet. When we saw the test results, even we were a little surprised to see such high figures!

"This level of connectivity at this level of price is simply unmatched anywhere else in the UK, giving South Yorkshire businesses a real competitive advantage."

George Taylor, CEO DRBSY Ltd added: "This is an excellent illustration of the unique capability we have in South Yorkshire, DRBSY are extremely happy to confidently say we have the fastest broadband in the region!

"People are now starting to realise that this new ultra fast service is not a pipe dream, Digital Exchange are delivering living proof by bringing on new connections daily."

DRBSY Ltd secured 46,000 sq ft of colocation at the South Yorkshire data centre in Manvers as it signed up to be a provider for the Digital Region. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

DRBSY Ltd website
Digital Exchange website
Industrial Personnel Ltd website

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News: Digital Region Broadband secures another key partner

Digital Region Broadband (DRBSY Limited) has announced a partnership in which Digital Exchange Yorkshire Limited will take responsibility for delivering high speed broadband services to organisations across Sheffield and South Yorkshire.

It follows from the recently announced partnership in which Lakeside IT will take responsibility for delivering Digital Region services to organisations across Doncaster and South Yorkshire.

DRBSY secured 46,000 sq ft of colocation at the South Yorkshire data centre in Manvers as it signed up to be a provider for the £90m Digital Region. The company manages its own national IP network, used solely for business use and guarantees the highest service levels in the industry.

Neville Wilkinson, technical director, Digital Exchange said: "Digital Exchange has been providing telecoms, IT systems & support for over 15 years.

"The introduction of Digital Region connectivity into our portfolio was a natural fit. We see massive business benefits from this new offering and following careful consideration decided to add to our portfolio, a service which delivers high speed internet connections, yet ones that come backed with a guaranteed level of service."

The Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

A recent customer for Digital Exchange, who moved to a new premise on Sheffield Business Park, could only be provided with a speed of 0.25Mb using a traditional broadband connection due to their distance from the BT exchange and the route that the copper cabling took.

This had a significant impact on their business as they are reliant on being able to submit online orders for stock and equipment. It looked as though only an expensive fibre optic leased line would be able to offer the level of performance they required but connectivity using Digital Region was almost a miracle solution to their problem. Even though they were still over 1.5 Km away from their street cabinet (the average is just 500m) the company are now enjoying Internet download speeds in excess of 15Mb and all at the same price as the lesser performing broadband product.

Neville added: "We have another customer who we are currently migrating to a Digital Region connection and as they're located just ten metres away from their street cabinet we hope to break the record for Internet performance for a broadband-based provision in South Yorkshire."

George Taylor, founding partner and CEO of Digital Region Broadband said: "We are very happy to have a partner with the pedigree of Digital Exchange on board. We are already mutually engaged on a number of high profile opportunities and see excellent future growth for both our businesses, driven by our Digital Region. Nick and Neville have a brilliant team and I am confident that they will add huge value to the capabilities that the Digital Region offers."

DRBSY Ltd website

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News: Digital Region Broadband announce partnership with Lakeside IT

Digital Region Broadband (DRBSY Limited) and Lakeside IT have announced a partnership in which Lakeside IT will take responsibility for delivering Digital Region services to organisations across Doncaster and South Yorkshire.

George Taylor, founding partner and CEO of Digital Region Broadband, said: "We are very pleased to announce this agreement. It represents a significant step in forwarding the delivery of transformational broadband into the Doncaster area.

"We are delighted to be working closely with Lakeside, whose core values we share, Lakeside clients will benefit from our powerful network capabilities complimented by their excellent support."

DRBSY secured 46,000 sq ft of colocation at the South Yorkshire data centre in Manvers as it signed up to be a provider for the £90m Digital Region. The company manages its own national IP network, used solely for business use and guarantees the highest service levels in the industry.

Ashley Harris, Managing Director, Lakeside IT, added: "The Digital Region network is the largest and most powerful broadband network in South Yorkshire and its growing rapidly.

"Partnering with DRBSY will allow our business to benefit from many opportunities driven by this new capability, we have deep knowledge of the local market and envisage taking advantage of a wide spectrum of opportunities, ranging from helping local businesses reduce costs through to enabling new communication channels such as video conferencing."

The Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

DRBSY Ltd website
Lakeside IT website

Images: digitalregionbroadband.co.uk

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News: DRBSY Ltd launch next generation broadband innovation facility in Rotherham

DRBSY Ltd are opening up their network infrastructure to allow developers and service providers to test their applications with real time users in the field.

The company secured 46,000 sq ft of colocation at the South Yorkshire data centre in Manvers as it signed up to be a provider for the £90m Digital Region.

The Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

George Taylor, CEO of DRBSY Ltd said: "We have an extremely powerful capability, available exclusively to South Yorkshire, now we need to take advantage of it!

"Imagine sitting in a dentist's surgery, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web, and discussing your condition with a specialist dental consultant in London. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than ten minutes. Or collaborating with students around the world whilst watching live interactive video of a university lecture.

"Ubiquitous, super-fast Internet access will make all this, and more possible. What we now need to do, is bring together cutting edge ideas to foster a culture of innovation which will maximise the value of the technology and deliver real benefits to society.

"Our Rotherham datacentre is ideally placed at the hub of the Digital Region to allow this collaborative action to occur."

DRBSY are putting out a Request for Information (RFI) to help identify interested parties and welcome responses from the public sector, as well as members of the private sector or even residential users.

The objective is to experiment with innovative ways to help make Internet access better, and faster for everyone. This includes seeing what developers and end-users can do with super-fast speeds, operating an "open access" network and working on new roll-out techniques through working with new developers such as Harworth Estates on the Waverley site where there are over 4,000 homes planned over the next 25 years.

DRBSY website


Images: DRBSY Ltd

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News: DRBSY moves to Manvers as it enters the Digital Region

Digital Region Broadband Ltd (DRBSY Ltd), a newly-established Managed Service Provider (MSP), has secured 46,000 sq ft of colocation at the South Yorkshire data centre in Rotherham as it signs up to be a provider for the £90m Digital Region.

DRBSY Ltd's managed services range from super-fast internet access to voice and video, through to managed application hosting. The move to Manvers gives them the largest colocation and managed hosting footprint in South Yorkshire.

DRBSY Ltd will be the first UK ISP to offer IPv6-enabled next generation services to the South Yorkshire Digital Region and organisations that locate themselves in the South Yorkshire data centre.

The Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

George Taylor, the founder of DRBSY Ltd, said "We're great advocates of DRL's mission to provide a vehicle for South Yorkshire's economic regeneration and are aligning our new organisation entirely with their objectives.

"With 46,000 square feet of hosting space at Yorkshire's largest data centre, we're looking to host as well as deliver next generation services, and aim to provide vital backup and disaster recovery facilities for the rest of the country via the Digital Region network."

Thales UK, in partnership with DRL, commenced the construction works in 2009 and is scheduled to complete the building of the "fibre-to-the-street cabinet" network to over 1600 locations across the entire region by 2012.

David Holt, CEO, Digital Region Ltd added: "There has been tremendous interest in providing services over the network from South Yorkshire's private sector.

"Businesses like DRBSY are setting up from scratch specifically to capitalise on the opportunities the network offers.

"As the network build continues we will see more and more service providers sign up to develop, trial and roll out services across a range of vertical markets.

"The next few months will be very exciting for us, and for South Yorkshire in general."


Digital Region Broadband Ltd website
Digital Region website

Images: digitalregion.co.uk

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