UK ISP Internet for Business Pumps £1m into Ultra-High Speed Connectivity

Aberdeen-based broadband and telecoms provider Internet for Business (IFB) has today announced that it will invest an extra £1 million to upgrade the capacity of its UK network, which will help the ISP to support their current and future “fibre and ultra-high speed connectivity” (e.g. FTTP) products.

The provider sells related data connectivity services around the United Kingdom. On top of that they’re also helping to support Cityfibre’s new Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) broadband network in their home city of Aberdeen (Scotland).

However like most ISPs they need to be mindful of rising data demands, not least through generally wider adoption of FTTP but also Openreach’s (BT) forthcoming roll-out of G.fast, as well as the desire for ever faster fibre optic leased lines (Ethernet etc.).

The extra investment will thus cover new network fibres and hardware infrastructure connecting IFB’s main network and Data Centre hubs in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London and Stavanger. As well as further enhancing the abilities of IFB’s “super connected hubs” in the London Internet Exchange (LINX) and at the Scottish Internet Exchange (IXScotland).

Graeme Gordon, IFB’s CEO, said:

“We are seeing rapid acceleration in the need, use and creation of diverse types of data from every shape and size of business, these businesses are sharing more data online and using more online applications and services … Getting to and from this data requires better connectivity.

We have seen a tenfold increase in bandwidth usage by our clients in the last three years driven by these and other key factors. For some time now our clients have not just been using the connections we provide to simply access the Internet, they are using it to back up and protect their data offsite, for access to online private and public applications, and to move more services such as voice and video calls off of traditional phone lines.

This data demand calls for much higher, constant bandwidth availability simply to stand still, and in real terms much more bandwidth if you want to grow your market position.”

Apparently IFB’s network expansion is part of a major project that has been developed in partnership with one of its long-term technical suppliers, Softcat. The latter has engaged their Cisco and Juniper focused technical design team to support the upgrade and meet IFB’s requirements. No doubt we’ll soon be hearing about the launched of some new connectivity services too.