Virgin Media Business Wholesale has announced it is now delivering high-bandwidth National Ethernet and Direct Internet Access (DIA) services over its metro network.
The company said these new offerings provide quicker delivery and an improved experience for wholesale partners buying services on a 10Gbps bearer.
In November, Virgin Media O2 brought together its fixed and mobile networks to create a Converged Interconnect Network (CIN).
That new CIN takes the core deeper into Virgin Media O2’s network, with IP routed networks deployed in the access network. This allows different types of traffic to share the same network and be managed more easily.
The new infrastructure provides pre-provisioned ports and capacity for wholesale partners, creating scalable, automated, low-cost delivery for 10Gbps services.
In locations where the new architecture is enabled, delivery time can be reduced by up to 40 days and network orchestration will improve reliability of configuration tasks.
Virgin Media Business Wholesale said it will also increase availability of 100Gbps External Network-to-Network Interfaces (ENNIs) at strategic locations to prepare for increasing demand. The company said that these will be available to request soon.
John Chester, director of wholesale fixed at Virgin Media O2 Business, said, “Our partners face growing bandwidth demands from their customers. It’s our priority to provide them with the best possible experience going forward.
“Our new architecture is the latest phase of Project Spark, a huge investment in accelerating the reach and diversity of our network across the country, allowing us to meet the UK’s growing need for connectivity.”
Project Spark is a multi-million-pound investment programme that aims to bring benefits across 10Gbps services. Virgin Media Business Wholesale also launched its new NHCS core platform last year, which built a foundation for the CIN update.
A few weeks ago, the core network was extended to five additional sites in the North of England and Scotland, bringing the total number of upgraded core sites to 23.