Virgin Media Business Start Offering Ethernet via New Converged UK Network

The wholesale division of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media Business (VMO2) has today announced that they’ve started offering their high-bandwidth products, such as National Ethernet (NE) and Direct Internet Access (DIA), over their new “next generation” Converged Interconnect Network (CIN).

Just to recap. Virgin’s new CIN brings their fixed line (FTTP, DOCSIS etc.) and mobile networks (4G, 5G etc.) together in a way that they say will make them more efficient, resilient, scalable and flexible. This takes the core deeper into VMO2’s network, with IP routed networks deployed in the access network, and allows different services to coexist on the network and be managed more easily, with the end customer moving closer to an optimised, scalable and high-capacity network (i.e. data is aggregated closer to the end user before routing it back to the core network).

On the business connectivity side, VMO2 Business said the new infrastructure provides pre-provisioned ports and capacity for wholesale partners, creating scalable, automated, lower-cost delivery for 10Gbps services. Where the new architecture is enabled, “delivery time will drop by up to 40 days” and network orchestration “will improve reliability of configuration tasks, bringing wholesale partners’ connections online seamlessly“.

The provider’s wholesale division also said it would increase the availability of 100Gbps External Network-to-Network Interfaces (ENNIs) at strategic locations to prepare for increasing demand, “becoming available to request soon“.

John Chester, Director of Wholesale Fixed at VMO2 Business, said:

“Our partners face growing bandwidth demands from their customers. It’s our priority to provide them with the best possible experience going forward. Our new architecture is the latest phase of Project Spark, a huge investment in accelerating the reach and diversity of our network across the country, allowing us to meet the UK’s growing need for connectivity.”

As part of Project Spark, a multi-million-pound investment programme to bring benefits across 10Gbps services, VMB Wholesale also launched its new NHCS core platform last year, which built a foundation for the CIN update. A few weeks ago, the core network was extended to five additional sites in the North of England and Scotland, bringing the total number of upgraded core sites to 23.

With CIN in operation, VMB Wholesale’s improved 10Gbps products are now said to be enabled at over 177 hub sites, equivalent to roughly 75% of national wholesale demand. National Ethernet and Direct Internet Access are the first wholesale products enabled on the platform, with High Capacity Services (HCS) to follow in 2025.