What is Digital Region?
Digital Region is the first major regional deployment of 'Superfast Broadband' in the UK, not only bringing improved access to a whole range of entertainment, business and public sector services, but importantly attracting new investment and new jobs – for young and old – into the region.
What is Superfast Broadband ?
Superfast Broadband is the Next Generation of Broadband, offering products including a guaranteed 25Mb/sec to your home:
- You are offered a guaranteed level of bandwidth
- Everyone in your house can use computers, play games, watch videos - all at the same time
Quality of Service:
- You can watch live TV and HDTV over the internet in perfect quality
- Voice, video and broadband services are delivered to your home without interacting with each and reducing quality
Multiple Service Providers:
- More choice; you can buy your HDTV, VoIP, Broadband services from different services providers and have them delivered to your home over the same infrastructure
For business:
- Brings 'big' bandwidth business solutions that are affordable to the small and medium sized business
- It supports affordable virtual private networks (VPN's) allowing you to connect to all your locations, or your workers, wherever they are
In summary Superfast Broadband is the 4th Utility, no more worrying about slow Internet connections, or being annoyed that you are not getting the bandwidth you are paying for.
What is the Digital Region Project?
The project was announced in the Government's 2009 budget statement with the project going live on the 29th April 2009.
The project has been driven by a partnership between Yorkshire Forward, Sheffield Council, Barnsley Council, Rotherham Council and Doncaster Council and has attracted over £90m of funding from European Union, the partners and the private sector is the first of its type in the UK, and puts the South Yorkshire region right a the centre of Digital Britain.
Digital Region Ltd has procured a technology partner led by Thales UK and including Alcatel-Lucent and KCOM, to design, build and operate the Superfast Broadband Network on behalf of Digital Region.
Digital Region Summary
Digital Region Ltd. (DRL) will deliver a groundbreaking transformational programme for South Yorkshire that will provide super-fast broadband including products of up to 25Mb/sec high-speed service using state of the art technology across South Yorkshire.
The project has the potential to become the largest open-access broadband infrastructure platform in the world and will enable a multitude of advanced applications at home, in business and across the public sector, transforming communications, entertainment and business activities across the region.
DRL is owned by four local authorities of South Yorkshire. Following a full European Union procurement exercise, Thales UK has been appointed to deliver and manage the fibre-optic cable infrastructure on behalf of DRL. Thales UK leads a consortium that includes Alcatel-Lucent and KCOM.
The DRL Network is offering 25mb+ of bandwidth which is both guaranteed and can be delivered with a range definable Quality of Service attributes. In simple terms, this means the end user gets ‘what they pay for’; if the end user requires 10mb they receive a guaranteed 10mb; if they want 5mb or 25mb this is guaranteed. Some services require more than just high-speed connections: this is true of live entertainment such as sports, and critical services such as aspects of tele-medicine. The DRL Network can configure specific connections with Quality of Service attributes that allow these services to be delivered in a seamless way to the end consumer - so no stop-starting or picture-jitter for example when watching a live football match.
Importantly, the DRL network allows for more than one service provider to connect to the consumer and deliver services. This means that the consumer has a wider choice of services and organisations and service providers can offer companies access to their customers directly via virtual networks made available over the DRL network.
The high-speed broadband capability will transform electronic communications across South Yorkshire and have a significant impact on economic development, potential inward investment and capacity building across South Yorkshire. The network will be integral to improving communications in the private and public sector, bringing increased innovation, opportunities and greater social and economic inclusion.
For further information visit www.digitalregion.co.uk
