Thus will provide LMN with a next-generation network (NGN) connecting 137 higher and further education colleges across Greater London, and enabling more than 1 million students to have access to advanced services that will support their learning.
LMN required a future-proof, fully resilient NGN that provided sufficient bandwidth for research projects and online student collaboration. In order to meet these needs, Thus is delivering a NGN optical core delivering multiple 10Gbps channels that will be supported by a 99.995% performance SLA. Sites will be connected using its industry leading Ethernet solution with many sites using 1Gbps Ethernet connections for their access and seven of the sites, with more demanding research applications, utilising 10Gbps connections. The NGN also provides the flexibility to increase capacity to 80Gbps at short notice as demand dictates, without the need for downtime, enabling the potential of the network to be fully exploited. LMN will use the network to support a number of applications including remote data storage, email filtering and access to JANET, the UK's education and research network.
Andrew Kerl, Procurement Manager at LMN, explains the decision to work with Thus: "Thus clearly understood LMN Ltd's requirement, which was detailed in the invitation to tender document and presented a proposal which was judged to be the best bid. The current LMN community is made of up Higher and Further Education, Adult and Community Learning, and other educationally related institutions and it is the intention of LMN Ltd that this community will be extended. LMN3 is being built to accommodate this expansion and will allow for the resulting growth in the number of access links. With this new network, London will have a carrier class network that is fit for purpose to carry it into the second decade of the 21st Century."
Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer at Thus plc commented: "Educational institutions today need greater bandwidth than ever before to provide their students with the required capacity to support collaborative learning and to facilitate large, and sometimes global, research projects. Because we understand the challenges the education sector faces, we worked with LMN to design a solution that not only meets their requirements today, but provides them with a scalable network that will help them meet the needs of tomorrow."