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2005

THUS National Ethernet enables faster access to JANET from Further Education institutions in the North East of England

THUS plc today announced that it has provided the North East Metropolitan Area Network (NorMAN) Consortium responsible for JANET network provision to Higher and Further Education institutions in the North East of England, with a dedicated high quality National Ethernet solution. National Ethernet has been deployed to replace a Frame Relay network used to connect 15 Further Education institutions directly to the NorMAN point of presence at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where they are onward connected to the JANET network – the national network for education. Network bandwidth has significantly improved since deployment, offering superior performance that allows users to access and send large volumes of academic data at faster speeds over the Internet.

With the ongoing need for increased bandwidth for students and staff accessing educational sites and content, the NorMAN Consortium had a requirement to replace its Frame Relay network. THUS already had an existing relationship with the NorMAN Consortium from rolling out a similar solution to University sites two years earlier, and was selected to build upon this solution by providing a National Ethernet network to integrate Further Education institutions and Universities with the core NorMAN National Ethernet service. Students and staff can now send larger, more content-rich files to colleagues and peers across the country within seconds, as well as download information which will enhance teaching and further education.

Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer at THUS plc, said: “National Ethernet provides staff and students in the North East with a more fulfilling online educational experience as they can now access and download better quality educational content more rapidly. It is great to have played a part in furthering education and enabling networks that can support the changing needs of the academic community.”

“THUS satisfied all the metrics required by the NorMAN Consortium within a comprehensive Service Level Agreement, meeting stringent targets for network performance in order to support more delay sensitive applications. The original solution was modified as the bandwidth needs of the colleges increased and the final solution has brought together the commercial and technical requirements requested by the NorMAN Consortium. This rollout builds upon the 2,750 Ethernet connections THUS has already provisioned throughout the UK,” continued Phil Male.

Trevor Cornwall, Chairman of the NorMAN Consortium Management Board, explained: “We were already aware that THUS could provide a high quality National Ethernet service to meet our bandwidth requirements. THUS’s support team has a sound knowledge of our requirements and always provides an advanced level of service. From the outset THUS has provided a cost effective solution that supports our current and future data transport needs, creating a better online environment for students and staff accessing JANET in the North East of England.”

All 15 sites have now been connected to THUS’s National Ethernet network at 10Mbps, and onwards to the NorMAN point of presence at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. By using a cost-effective National Ethernet hub/spoke configuration, the bandwidth to colleges has been increased five fold and in addition THUS National Ethernet networking is suitable for delivering voice, video and delay sensitive data applications. The THUS National Ethernet solution supports the majority of multimedia services as standard and in the future it will support VoIP and more delay sensitive applications at no additional cost.