Thursday 26 April 2012
Openreach helps deliver a UK business fibre first
Openreach has helped to roll out the UKs first fibre to the premises (FTTP) installation to multiple office units at Acorn House, Milton Keynes.
The superfast FTTP broadband service, capable of delivering download speeds of up to 100Mbit/s and up to 15Mbit/s upload speeds, allows users to reduce costs and drive efficiencies right across their organisations.
For users, this can open up a whole new way of working as it allows them to take advantage of services like high definition VoIP and videoconferencing, as well as sending large documents more quickly, running multiple cloud applications simultaneously and uploading to file transfer sites without any noticeable slowing of the connection. It also allows Acorn House to provide high-speed Wi-Fi in the café and meeting rooms throughout the building.
Part of a £2.5 billion investment by BT to deploy fibre broadband to two thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014, the service is installed by specialist Openreach engineers, and is supported by a business team that is available 24/7 to provide help and advice via a freephone number.
The Acorn House building in central Milton Keynes is owned by MK Community Foundation, which has its offices there along with other local voluntary sector services, including Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Community Action MK and Women & Work.
BT Business and Openreach worked closely with the Acorn House team, as well as with its resident IT consultancy New Koncepts, to roll out the service to a range of organisations within the building.
Lisa Ravenscroft, head of fibre broadband and value added services, BT Business, said: “We are at the forefront of the fibre revolution for businesses in the UK and this is a real milestone in being able to provide the best technology to all types of customer.”
Stephen Miles, building manager, Acorn House, said: “We have always strived to ensure our tenants can access the latest technologies as its central to the efficient running of their vital community services. Offering superfast broadband speeds sets us apart from other local providers and is another benefit for our clients who use our conference and meeting room facilities.”