The new Leeds site will ensure that customer bandwidth and service demands continue to be met in a highly resilient way and ahead of demand. The additional location means that there is a new link to London which is completely separate from the existing Zen network. This is in addition to the link the ISP already has to New York, which also provides resiliency and the reassurance that Zen does not rely on one point of presence in the UK.
As part of the network expansion, Imtech Telecom, a technical services provider that specialises in the design, build and maintenance of next generation networks, has supplied Juniper Networks T-series routers into Zen’s new Point of Presence. T-series routing platforms are designed to provide high-performance, scalable and highly reliable IP/MPLS-optimized core transport, providing service providers such as Zen Internet with best-in-class quality of service able to support a comprehensive range of data, video and voice services.
David Wylie, Principal Engineer, Zen Internet, commented: “A major benefit of the Leeds site is that it is close enough to existing Zen sites in Rochdale and Manchester to allow dark fibre links directly between sites, leading to virtually unlimited bandwidth growth. With this extra network link there is also a physically separate network route to London, other than our HQ and Manchester links. If there was ever a regional power failure, Leeds is far enough away not to be affected, providing us with additional cover in the UK. We have also invested in new network equipment at Leeds which has the capability to be expanded to handle these huge bandwidths in a scalable fashion.”
The resiliency of this network will further be increased when BT install Central Pipes in June, as the backhaul of these into their network will be to a separate geographical location from existing Zen Central Pipes.
Stuart Birchall, Technical Services Director, Zen Internet, added: “Zen’s goal is to provide the best possible Internet service, we provide network resiliency through using the best technology available, and continue to do this as proved through this latest work and our transatlantic link of 2006. With geographically diverse locations for our network we can emphasise our ability to deliver a reliable service. The potential for future expansion remains open, alongside new product opportunities.”