20 July 2015

Businesses in Aberdeen look set to get a connectivity boost with news of Commsworld and Converged Communication Solutions joining the city’s new CORE pure fibre network.

The two service providers will work with CORE Aberdeen launch partner, Internet For Business (IFB), to offer ultra-fast connectivity internet services to local enterprise users. IFB recently opened its new headquarters and a data centre in Altens, and says it has already connected its first customers to the network.

The Aberdeen CORE is being developed by CityFibre as part of its ‘Gigabit City’ initiative. The firm already has ongoing projects to build pure fibre metro areas networks, known as ‘COREs’, in York, Peterborough, Coventry and Edinburgh.

As the Aberdeen CORE reaches completion in the city centre, CityFibre has now started the next stage of deployment, extending into areas including the Harbour, Altens, Tullos, Dyce and the Bridge of Don. It says the precise network route and coverage is being determined by demand from the business community.

Commsworld was CityFibre’s launch partner on the Edinburgh CORE and has now introduced its own pure fibre services in Aberdeen. It says it’s already signed up 26 businesses. 

Meanwhile, Converged Communication will use connectivity enabled by the CORE to extend its own fibre network across the city. Neil Christie, the company’s technical director, says: “This project and the introduction of accessible ultra-fast services is significantly improving the connectivity landscape in the region as a whole. Crucially, it is providing businesses with vital flexibility at this challenging time in the oil and gas sector.”

Separately, Converged Communication has announced that it will use Brightsolid’s forthcoming data centre in Aberdeen to provide services to the city’s enterprise community.

Part of the DC Thomson Group, Brightsolid is a private cloud provider that owns and operates data centres in north east Scotland connected by a high-speed network. 

The company plans to open what it claims is a “state-of-the-art” data centre in Lang Stracht, Mastrick, Aberdeen in October. The firm says its £5 million investment into the facility will offer uncontended speed and efficiency for transporting and storing large amounts of data.

The company claims the “world-class” tier III facility will benefit from “robust” connectivity, nationally and internationally, through a range of partners including SSE, Tampnet and now Converged Communication. 

The modular data centre promises a 100G link direct to London, a total of 400 racks across two halls at a maximum load of 1MW per hall, high density of up to 25kW per rack, a PUE of below 1.25, and more.

Brightsolid's £5m data centre in Aberdeen will feature 400 racks across two halls when it opens in October.

Brightsolid says business customers will be able to access the data centre via Converged Communication’s core network, with the ability to also acquire hosting services via Converged as their trusted supplier. The firm adds its clients will benefit from easy access to any of Converged Communication’s services, including VoIP, from the new facility.

“As the oil and gas capital of Europe, Aberdeen has been waiting a long time for world class data centre facilities,” says Christie. “The timing of the facility could not be better, as our rapidly expanding Gigabit network footprint means that our customers will be able to access their equipment and associated services at speeds of up to 10Gbps.”