ITV selects Geo Networks to manage critical data centre network
London, 06 July – ITV has selected Geo Networks Limited (“Geo”), a provider of dedicated fibre networks, to deploy a fibre optic network between its core data centre sites in Slough and Greenwich. By selecting Geo’s dedicated fibre, ITV now has a managed 10Gb/s service on fibre that is capable of scaling up to terabit capacity, ensuring richer and seamless content for viewers as the company progresses its Transformation Plan.
Geo was selected through a competitive tender process on the basis of its dedicated fibre offering, which enables ITV to scale up its bandwidth requirements as it grows its revenue streams. The nature of dedicated fibre, as opposed to industry-standard shared platforms, also guarantees ITV of a sub-2ms round trip between sites, a key requirement to meet their low latency goals.
“ITV’s strategic priority is to drive new revenue streams by exploiting our content across multiple free and pay platforms,” said Andrew Ioannou, ITV’s Director of Strategy – Technology, Platforms and Business Delivery. “A robust network that eliminated single points of failure and reduced our business risk to its lowest possible level was critical to us. Geo’s fibre follows unique paths away from standard routes which guarantees diversity.”
Geo’s network was already present in the key sites on the network: ITV’s Gray’s Inn Road head office, Equinix’s LD5 in Slough and BIS’s flagship data centre in Greenwich, meaning that deployment times were kept to a minimum and the managed service project could be rolled out in just 12 weeks.
“Media companies are facing a tough market today and need to deliver high bandwidth content using a range of channels to engage a more demanding audience. Dedicated fibre is critical to companies such as ITV with aggressive growth strategies, as it provides long term capacity for bandwidth-intense content without the need to compress and decompresss,” said Chris Smedley, Chief Executive at Geo. “Our fibre will provide ITV with the stable infrastructure required to realise its vision.”
For more information please contact:
Caroline Cook
ITV
020 7157 3709
Metia on behalf of Geo
Caroline Beer
+44 (0)20 3100 3796
or
Sam Keefe
+44 (0)20 3100 3650
About Geo Networks
Geo is the only company in the UK solely focused on the designing and building of bespoke dedicated fibre network solutions. Geo’s revolutionary and flexible approach means that for the first time, organisations can own and control their networks, ensuring that security, high bandwidth and resilience are guaranteed. By allowing its customers to directly own and control the underlying optical fibre that is at the heart of their data network, Geo is the only truly open access network provider in the UK. It provides an extensive range of solutions including fully managed networks, dark fibre and co-location services. Geo enables network solutions throughout the UK and in the London area. Customers include mobile operators, service providers, major banks and the public sector. Geo is listed as the UK’s 3rd fastest growing telecoms & networking company in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list for 2010. Geo was also shortlisted for the 2010 Sunday Times Tech Track 100: Barclays Corporate Performance Excellence Award. Visit www.geo-uk.net for more information.
About ITV PLC
ITV is the largest commercial television network in the UK. It operates a family of channels including ITV1, and delivers content across multiple platforms via itv.com and ITV Player. ITV Studios produces and sells programmes and formats in the UK and worldwide.
