BT (NYSE: BT) is giving its wholesale customers more connectivity options by establishing three new data center points of presence (PoPs) inside the UK as part of a broader investment program in its fiber-based Ethernet network footprint.
The service provider said that these sites at Manchester, Leeds and Slough are being built to make it easier for its wholesale customers to more rapidly connect to BT's network at a lower cost by bringing the network closer to them.
By installing new equipment at these sites, BT Wholesale said it would be able to achieve cost savings through two key elements: reducing connection and rental costs and speeding up interconnection times.
A wholesale customer could get a 1 Gbps port in these locations in 10 days, which BT claims can offer large reductions in lead times versus a standard direct access product. Customers will also be able to access the new services for 75 percent less than traditional access using direct network access products.
BT's Wholesale data center PoP buildout began earlier this year, with specific sites going live this month including TelecityGroup in Joule House, Manchester and Equinix (LDN5) in Slough and another site in Leeds. Already, the footprint consists of Telehouse Europe North and the Global Switch1 data center in London, as well as one of the UK's largest data centers in Newport, South Wales.
Paul Beacham, general manager, TDM Data, Ethernet & Optical Product Management at BT Wholesale, said in a release that this latest buildout is to support growing demand from its wholesale and business customers for more connectivity options.
"These services are being adopted in increasing numbers by businesses of all sizes, so BT is investing in more network options to support that growth in demand," Beacham said. "We want to be in the right locations and at the right price for our customers in order to support, satisfy and stimulate the growth of UK plc."
But these three centers are just the beginning of a larger data center PoP buildout program. BT said that it plans to launch other data center PoP locations throughout the rest of the year and supporting higher speed 10G ports in key locations. Beginning next year, BT will extend its optical network into a number of data center locations supporting a broader mix of connectivity options scaling from 10G to 100G.
For more:
- see the release
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