RiDO Rotherham Investment & Development Office

RiPWiRE, based at RiDO’s Fusion@Magna Business Centre, are one of the first two Internet Service Providers to be signed up by Digital Region Ltd (DRL) and Thales UK for South Yorkshire’s Digital Region project.

The move represents an important milestone in the region’s digital transformation: the availability of end user fast broadband services to South Yorkshire’s business community. Business telephony and video conferencing services are now available on DRL’s next-generation network, delivered by RiPWiRE and Sheffield-based DRBSY Ltd (Digital Region Broadband South Yorkshire). Both organisations also expect to introduce consumer and public sector services in the coming weeks.

“We are delighted to be able to provide access to the Digital Region network for our existing and prospective new customers in South Yorkshire”, says Liam Winder, Managing Director of RiPWiRE. “Improving the quality and speed of their connectivity will enable them to take advantage of more of our cloud computing services and improve their business performance.

“The Digital Region network will also enable more customers to take advantage of our applications that require high-quality bandwidth. We are particularly excited about the opportunities that this creates for both public and private customers in the healthcare sector.”

"This is great news, and a significant step forward for the region’s digital presence,” comments David Holt, CEO, Digital Region Ltd. “We're extremely pleased that our first partner organisations are local to South Yorkshire, and that they feel Digital Region can give them such a strong portfolio of services for both businesses and consumers. There has been tremendous interest in providing services over the network from South Yorkshire’s private sector. Despite being less than five months from when the core fibre optic ring went operational, the project is already creating jobs and opportunities for the region.”

The Digital Region network, built and managed by Thales UK, is designed to support a potential revolution in the delivery of wholesale broadband services to South Yorkshire, delivering consumer and businesses related services across the region together with enhancing social care, health and education services.  Thales UK, in partnership with DRL, commenced the construction works in 2009 and is scheduled to complete the building of the ‘fibre-to-the-street cabinet’ network to over 1600 locations across the entire region by 2012. In addition, Thales UK are responsible for operating the network and for developing and selling the wholesale services to service providers.

The Digital Region project will bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of the region, including 550,000 homes and 1.3 million people. The project is financed by European, regional, local and private investment of over £90 million, including £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund.