Broadband provider Digiweb says it is planning to offer 80pc of Ireland’s population converged data, voice and video – collectively known as triple-play services – using a country-wide network built on a Cisco next-generation internet protocol (IP) network.
“The Cisco technology means we can provide a complete end-to-end solution to either a single home or multiple large business sites,” explained John Quinn, head of strategic development at Digiweb. “The Cisco technology also means that we will have a very robust, wholesale model. We will be able to offer network bandwidth to other service providers and offer other broadband network services at considerable savings compared to technologies such as leased lines.”
The Cisco IP multi-protocol label switching (IP/MPLS) backbone will provide the high-capacity, intelligent transport required by Digiweb to deliver digital video and multimedia services over IP on its wireless last-mile access network to homes and businesses.
This will be the first wireless broadband network of this type in Ireland to intelligently support digital IP television (IPTV) and full multimedia services direct to the major population centres in Ireland. This network is expected to support more than 50,000 IPTV and media customers.
As well as providing Digiweb with one of the fastest, high-capacity broadband infrastructures in Ireland, the Cisco network will help Digiweb gain a competitive advantage using its last-mile access to its customers. Digiweb also plans to offer greater business benefits with the introduction of its Metro platform allowing for high bandwidth services and voice over IP services, which will be able to save users an average €25 a month for telephone line rental and broadband on demand.
Quinn continued: “With the Cisco technology we will have one of the most powerful, nationwide networks in Ireland that puts us one step ahead of the market now and for several years to come. This technology also means we can start to offer more innovative services based on customer need such as creating digital communities where regional or common-interest users can share high-capacity bandwidth for less cost, bringing real benefit and value to broadband networking.”
Michael Galvin, country manager for Ireland at Cisco Systems, explained that the Digiweb network platform demonstrates the value of intelligence in the second mile to support a variety of last-mile technologies. “In this case, last mile access is wireless broadband with Cisco Metro Ethernet intelligent aggregation over the second mile.
“Services such as IPTV need intelligent capabilities in the second mile, such as redundant and scalable multicasting, to support mass-scale deployments at a cost that meets the commercial objectives of the business. This concept of intelligent aggregation is the same approach that has made the fortune of some of the most successful triple-play deployments in Europe,” Galvin explained.
By John Kennedy
