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2003

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UKERNA® selects THUS for landmark Scottish Curricular Intranet (SPARK) project initiated by the Scottish Executive Education Department

THUS plc, one of the UK's leading providers of voice, networking, Internet and contact centre services, has been selected by UKERNA® (the United Kingdom Education & Research Networking Association) to provide a broadband network connecting Scotland's 32 Local Authorities (LAs) and three national education agencies via the SuperJANET® network within Scotland. The new network is one part of the Scottish Executive's Spark initiative, which will bring the next generation of on-line learning to Scottish schools.

The Spark initiative, linked by the new broadband network provided by THUS, will bring a range of services and facilities tailored to the varying needs of pupils, teachers and education managers - building on the development of the National Grid for Learning in Scotland over the last five years.

"The Spark project will help ensure that we make the most of broadband access by providing pupils, teachers and education managers with access to appropriate services and functions that enhance their respective roles and experiences," said Bill Allan, Chief Executive of THUS plc. "I believe that once they have experienced rich broadband content, they'll find there's no going back to the days of basic one-dimensional dial-up."

"Parity of access to educational opportunity is one of the key benefits that can be delivered by the use of broadband networks," said Bob Day, Network Development Director of UKERNA®. "The Spark Intranet will enable Scotland's schools and education authorities to receive a range of valuable services through a secure and managed broadband environment on an equitable basis. THUS's strong reputation in the education sector, network reach and its innovative City Ethernet offering made it the logical choice for this landmark project."

THUS will enable the Spark Intranet with a series of 45, 100, 155 and 1000 Mbps connections linking Scotland's 32 LAs and its three national education agencies - Learning and Teaching Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Educational Establishment Management Information System (SEEMIS) - to the existing SuperJANET backbone network. This wide area network will use a mixture of high capacity circuits and THUS's market leading City Ethernet LAN extension service.

The broadband network supplied by THUS will not only meet the requirements of the Spark project but will also provide scalable bandwidth for future initiatives. All elements of the network up to and including the customer premises equipment will be fully managed in real-time by THUS's 24x7 Network Management Centre (NMC), enabling THUS to take proactive measures to maintain services and manage incidents as soon as they occur.

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