BUSINESSES in Turriff in Aberdeenshire and Lockerbie in Dumfries & Galloway are the latest to benefit from a new, high-speed communications network that continues to grow in Scotland.
BT’s Ethernet network, aimed at medium-sized businesses, shops, schools and other organisations, is designed to save time and money.
The BT technology, which has just ‘gone live’ in the two towns, makes it possible for businesses to opt for a choice of guaranteed broadband speeds over a dedicated line and across multiple sites.
Customers can choose Ethernet speeds between one megabit per second (Mbps) and ten Gigabits per second (Gbits), depending on their needs. At the top rate of 10Gbits, the system is capable of transmitting an astonishing ten billion bits of information per second.
Turriff and Lockerbie join more than 100 communities in Scotland which have already been upgraded for Ethernet.
BT also announced that Anstruther in Fife and Hawick in the Scottish Borders have been added to the roll-out programme and are due to be upgraded by Spring next year.
Advances in technology mean the service is available at a fraction of the cost of a comparable one provided previously by a similar, traditional private network.
Medium-sized organisations using voice, data, video and other bandwidth-hungry applications across more than one site are the most likely users. The highly flexible system can be easily expanded as a business or organisation grows.
BT offers Ethernet on an open, wholesale basis to all communications companies providing business services. It is also being used by many mobile phone operators to address the explosive growth in demand for mobile data services across the UK.
Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: “This is another important step forward for these four Scottish towns. Ethernet allows organisations to connect to their sites and customers locally, around the UK and internationally on an extremely secure and reliable network.
“It will also help public sector organisations run even more efficient networks, saving money and protecting public services.
“For any company considering investing locally, high-speed Ethernet is attractive while it can help existing businesses work and communicate more effectively.
“BT is the only company consistently investing in a mixture of faster next generation broadband and Ethernet services both in and outside the nation’s major urban areas.”
This expansion of Ethernet is in addition to the £2.5 billion BT roll-out of fibre broadband, expected to reach two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by the end of 2014.
Notes to Editors:
BT’s Ethernet service is recognised as a high quality, flexible and cost efficient service. Each component of BT’s wholesale service meets the mandatory government security assurance levels required to support Public Services Network (PSN) opportunities in the UK. This demonstrates BT’s commitment to the highest levels of service, performance and technical capabilities on its next generation Ethernet products. BT Ethernet is part of a global platform that connects to 197 countries.
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