Imagine the region bounded by the 36 miles of the M60, the motorway which encircles Greater Manchester. Now imagine a fast (with equal download and upload speeds), secure, wireless broadband internet network which covers that area and which betters the latest ‘WiMax’ specification. Finally, imagine a customer service which has a service level agreement committing itself to a reliability of 99.98% and which can be installed within 5 working days.
This is not imagination. It is the reality of the service provided by Metronet Manchester, a fast-growing msp tenant company which was formed just 3 years ago. It bought out part of the network installed by Atlantic Telecom, which consisted of some £10 million worth of infrastructure. This has been substantially upgraded, and Metronet now has 13 secure microwave points (POPs, to the initiated) in the region linked to a fault-tolerant optical fibre ring. Manchester is currently the only city in the UK to benefit from such a network; overseas, New York and Adelaide already have them.
Why is a network like this important? And, more to the point, why is it good business? David Ashmore, Metronet Manchester’s Chairman, explains: “There are two immensely important applications of a wireless metropolitan area network like this. The first is in CCTV, particularly in security applications. The continuity of the data stream is excellent, and the quality of the digital pictures we obtain are at least as good as their analogue counterparts. The inherent character of the network means that security camera systems are no longer limited by costly ‘fixed pipe’ optical fibre infrastructure. Costs are lower and flexibility is higher.
“Metronet now has the capacity to carry live video images from Manchester’s entire CCTV network. You can appreciate why Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police are amongst our most important customers.”
The second major application is linking customers to the internet at speeds of 2Mbps to above 100Mbps (translated as very fast to blindingly fast!), and this is where Metronet’s location at msp is vital. All of the POPs can be terminated at Telecity. This is Manchester’s premier internet hub, which is located at msp , and Metronet Manchester has a strategic alliance with them. There are also several other good internet support companies and ISPs based at the Science Park, and Metronet collaborates with many of them, making msp a real ‘internet community’ with demonstrable synergies.
David sees opportunities for other applications using Metronet, such as voice-over-IP. He also hopes to expand the coverage outside the present M60 boundary, thus giving the wider region a significant competitive advantage to its businesses which depend on fast, secure data transfer for various purposes.
As explained, Metronet Manchester simply had to locate at msp to be close to Telecity and others. However, they also see other big benefits from being there, such as its tenant support services – and the Café on the Park, which has been the venue for many informal but valuable meetings.
COMPANY INFO
Location: Rutherford House
Contact: David Ashmore
Phone: 0161 241 6242
Fax: 01625 827452
E-mail: david@manchestermetronet.com