UK ISP Glide Upgrade Broadband for Student Homes at the University of Exeter
Clevedon-based broadband ISP Glide Group has today announced a new multi-year contract extension with the University of Exeter in Devon (England), which will deliver a “major upgrade” to their wired and wireless internet connectivity – focused upon the educational establishment’s student accommodation estate.
The announcement, which follows after last year’s funding boost from banking giant NatWest (here), will see Glide provide fully managed connectivity services to 5,346 student bedrooms and shared spaces – both indoors and outdoors (“high-performance Wi-Fi and wired connectivity“), making it one of the provider’s largest single university accommodation deployments to date.
The deployment will introduce Glide’s latest managed connectivity architecture, Glide Home, which will give students a “secure, private network that follows them across their accommodation, allowing all their devices to connect easily, reliably and securely wherever they live and study“.
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In addition, Glide plan to upgrade their dedicated fibre connectivity to the University, increasing core capacity to 100Gbit/s to help keep up with modern data demands. The solution will also incorporate various network protection and wellbeing services, including “content filtering and crisis intervention capabilities“, supporting the University’s safeguarding and duty of care commitments.
Tim Pilcher, CEO at Glide, said:
“The University of Exeter is a highly respected Russell Group institution, and we’re proud to deliver this major connectivity upgrade. This contract reflects the strength of our long-standing partnership and our ability to design and operate networks that scale, perform and evolve alongside student expectations.”
Delivery of the upgraded network will begin in early 2026, with phased implementation designed to minimise disruption during the academic year.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Wierd that a University is outsourcing this. Typically they run the internet in their student accommodation themselves. Least all the ones I have worked at do including my current employer. Never had such a luxury when I was a student.