From left: Vodafone Ireland finance director Mark Denley, Kildare County Council CEO Sonya Kavanagh and Siro CEO John Keaney. Image: Tony Gavin
Merits, the Naas-based digital hub, has joined the Vodafone-Siro GigaBitHub initiative, which aims to provide reliable and resilient connectivity to digital hubs across Ireland.
Siro and Vodafone are supporting a Kildare innovation tech hub, to give it fibre broadband connectivity and improve its services.
The two companies are working to support Merits, a Naas-based digital hub that offers services such as hot desks, private offices, meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for dozens of businesses.
The digital hub is now part of the Vodafone-Siro GigaBitHub initiative, which aims to provide reliable and resilient connectivity to digital hubs across Ireland. By joining this initiative, Merits will get access to faster broadband and digital infrastructure for companies.
Merits says it supports various innovation-focused businesses such as Stryve, DreamDev and Nua Bioenergy. It features 16 hot desks, 12 private offices, a mixed-reality lab, a podcast studio and an editing suite. Merits is also involved in multiple community initiatives such as the weekly Coder Dojo club, which helps children and teenagers to learn coding and other digital skills.
Kildare County Council CEO Sonya Kavanagh said the county is home to a growing number of indigenous SMEs and a “significant number of remote workers”.
“Joining the Gigabit Hub Initiative will enhance Merits’ capabilities, providing ultrafast broadband and cutting-edge digital infrastructure to its community of innovators,” Kavanagh said. “As economic development and job creation are two of our key priorities, we believe that this partnership between Siro and Merits will positively contribute to achieving these priorities.”
The GigaBitHub initiative launched in 2017 to help the connectivity of Ireland’s digital hubs. Since then, Siro and Vodafone said the initiative has partnered with more than 20 of Ireland’s hubs, including Galway’s Crew, Skibbereen’s Ludgate Hub and Dundalk’s Creative Spark.
“Merits and the community of customers it serves including a host of dynamic and hugely innovative Irish businesses in addition to youth educational groups will massively benefit from high-speed connectivity,” said Vodafone Ireland finance director Mark Denley
“This initiative is a commitment and investment in our economy, our business community and, most importantly, to future generations of entrepreneurs and local businesses who will continue to successfully innovate on a global level, right here in Naas.”
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