21 January 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally the way enterprise WANs are architected changed how and where people work.

That's according to Aryaka’s sixth-annual State of the WAN report, which surveyed 1,600 global enterprises spanning a broad spectrum of industries ranging from software and technology to manufacturing, retail, and business services. It identified four key trends reshaping the WAN market: remote and hybrid work, a growing appetite for managed services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, increased complexity associated with cloud migrations and other cost-saving measures, as well as network security.

20 January 2022

(L to R): Lloyd McCourt, operations Manager at GCU UK and Jason Legget, regional partnership director at CityFibre

CityFibre, the independent full fibre platform provider, has appointed GCU UK to lead its £42m investment in digital infrastructure across Gateshead.

The former is building new and better digital infrastructure for up to eight million homes and businesses through its up to £4bn Gigabit City Investment Programme. It is set to invest £42m in a new town-wide network that will bring full fibre connectivity – the best technology for the job – within reach of almost every home and business in Gateshead.

Construction work on the full fibre network will begin in February 2022. As work is completed in each neighbourhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will ‘light up the network’ with some of the fastest and most competitive broadband packages available in terms of both data and price. At its peak the project could create up to 200 new construction jobs locally.

“We need brilliant builders to deliver our full fibre networks as seamlessly as possible," said Jason Legget, regional partnership director at CityFibre. "In GCU, we have found a partner who recognises the importance of this project, knows what is needed to deliver for the people of Gateshead and can grow with us as we move into new areas of the town. Our vision may be a long-term one but, like full fibre itself, our roll outs are ultrafast and it won’t be long until the first households and businesses in Gateshead can experience best-in-class connectivity for themselves.”

Robin Kerr, commercial director at GCU UK, added: “We are delighted to have been appointed build partner for the full-fibre roll-out in Gateshead. We look forward to continuing to work with City Fibre and utilising the expertise developed through multiple ongoing successful full-fibre infrastructure builds across the UK. The exciting expansion of our business into the North-East of England has progressed well and we have had the pleasure of welcoming into GCU (UK) a team of experienced professionals local to Tyne and Wear who are already making great progress and look forward to delivering a new and improved broadband infrastructure to more than 109,000 properties in Gateshead.”