SSE Enterprise Telecoms and JISC Launch 100Gbps Midlands Fibre Network

Fibre optic provider SSE Enterprise Telecoms (SSEET) has been picked by Jisc to help from data connectivity speeds of up to 100Gbps to education and research centres across the Midlands of England. Key universities, such as Birmingham, Warwick and Nottingham, will be among those to benefit from the new contract.

The new “Jisc Midlands” network will build on the existing relationship between the two companies, which earlier this year saw them partner to launch the Janet South network and unbundle a further 7 BT exchanges (here). By contrast the new network is said to be a “combination of the current Jisc East and West Midlands networks.”

Jisc said they chose SSE Enterprise Telecoms as it met the key criteria of being able to design a fast and reliable network that could support required bandwidth at the best value; a critical need for education and research hubs as they increasingly raise their capacity requirements, with the biggest users in the region already utilising up to 20Gbps.

Jisc is a publicly funded organisation and as such it must ensure that any new projects are undertaken in a way that is most cost-effective to its members and customers.

Colin Sempill, CEO of SSEET, said:

“We are delighted to have been awarded the Jisc Janet Midlands contract. This network will help Midlands-based education and research centres connect and collaborate across the region and the wider UK, as well as access the Internet and Cloud applications. It will enable them to connect to global research centres, further driving innovation and supporting the UK’s ambition of being a leader in research and further education.”

Today’s announcement is a further extension of our long-standing relationship with Jisc. Over this time, we have built a deep understanding of their requirements when rolling out new infrastructure. We’re looking forward to working with them closely on this project.”

Neil Shewry, Jisc’s Head of Delivery, said:

“Our customers need fast, reliable and resilient networks that support their high bandwidth demands. We’re excited to be partnering with SSE Enterprise Telecoms, a continuation of our long-standing relationship, to launch the Jisc Janet Midlands network, addressing these requirements.

SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ ability to design a resilient network, which aligned with our price point was a key consideration when making the decision to award the contract.”

A key element of the deal is SSEET’s ability to incorporate other ISPs, which enabled them to harness optical fibre links from three other telecommunications companies and undertake strategic construction to achieve an “optimum bespoke design, based on the most advantageous routes and not dependent upon fibre ownership.”

SSEET currently builds and manages a 12,000km+ long private fibre optic and Ethernet network across the United Kingdom (via 265+ Points of Presence and 80 commercial data centres), which is capable of delivering bandwidth speeds of up to 10Gbps and even 100Gbps in some areas (note: some of their locations can only handle speeds of up to 1Gbps).