Geo, which last year announced it was to provide ITV with its national ‘Content Superhighway’ network, is closing the year having extended ITV’s network into two critical new sites. Optical fibre will connect ITV’s UK network to its presence in MediaCityUK, as well as to its new studio facility informally known as ‘the Coronation Street Building’ on Trafford Wharf Road, Salford. Along with these two deals, ITV is trialling the transmission of live video content, as it begins its migration of valuable content onto the Geo network.
Europe's largest outside broadcast and satellite uplink provider, SIS LIVE, has also signed a 10 year deal with Geo for a self-managed, dedicated dual and diverse fibre network in MediaCityUK. The network will link its new teleport facility on Trafford Wharf Road into two key points of presence within the development, which will enable essential monitoring and business continuity services.
In London, the leading global provider of film-on-demand has contracted a dark fibre service from Geo between two Docklands data centres. Similarly, streaming-on-demand market leader TVCatchup has also procured Geo’s dark fibre between three London data centres. As an online provider streaming vast amounts of data, TVCatchup opted for a self-managed network in order to scale up its bandwidth more efficiently and economically.
Top global media community service provider, Sohonet, has signed four contracts with Geo this year, including a link between Chiswick Park and a leading west London post production house and the connecting of a famous, newly developed studio on the outskirts of north London to a central London data centre.
Other key points of presence added to Geo’s network this year include MediaCityUK’s Orange Building, BBC Wood Lane, Sky’s Harlequin Building and data centres including Interxion, Virtus and iomart.
Sales Director for Geo, Will Pitt, believes that the success in his sector is due to CTOs in the industry understanding the cost savings and efficiency gains to be had by adopting scalable dedicated fibre.
“Buying habits are changing, which is why companies are coming to Geo. It is clear, particularly for media and broadcast organisations that require huge amounts of bandwidth to transport content, that a dedicated fibre infrastructure enables the fast deployment of new capacity, cost-effectively and without the lead times nor lengthy negotiations found elsewhere.
“Last year, we noted that the media sector was evolving in its use of its network and bandwidth, as a consequence of us all demanding more content across a wider range of devices. This phenomenon continues to gather momentum, and it is for this reason that market leaders are choosing Geo’s dedicated fibre proposition, which is the perfect solution for intense bandwidth requirements.”
Further names to be announced next year include major television and radio broadcasters, and Geo is working to connect several media-specific data centres, as increasing demand for space drives the requirement for remote storage and access.