I spent an enjoyable morning yesterday at the Next Gen conference held in Bristol. I was actually talking in one of the workshops with regards to our network aggregation platform. This initiative will see the platform connecting into most rural and urban networks to deliver access to multiple ISPs.
What was fascinating about the event was the broad range of companies from independent fibre ISPs, to system integrators and infrastructure builders all excited and ready about the new push into high speed broadband. If anything this goes against the negative press in the last few days from GEO and Cable & Wireless who have this week pulled out of the bids for building the new generation of networks supported by the BDUK funding. It is a shame, and I appreciate their position, but seeing the excitement and new developments being made it shows that this still isn’t a one horse race.
In an industry that is relatively virtual, well from my perspective at least, it was great to see some of the actual equipment being developed and used to build these new fibre networks. This machine was particularly impressive which was able to dig 700 meters of fibre a day by digging a very small trench minimising disruption to road traffic.
So unlike my contemporaries I am actually quite buoyed by the fact that there still seem to be lots of players chasing the BDUK money and will give BT a good run for their money.
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