Manx Telecom makes major strategic investment in enhanced
off-Island links
25th January 2010
Manx Telecom, part of the Telefónica Group of companies,
recently made a major strategic investment strengthening the
telecoms links between the Isle of Man and the rest of the world.
At the same time, it has significantly cut bandwidth costs across
the board for its off-Island Ethernet and Internet Protocol
solutions
The company has invested in quadruple connections from the
Island, via four separate undersea fibre optic circuits, which
connect through the UK and Ireland into the main international data
hubs.
The new circuit capacity represents a significant enhancement of
the Island’s ability to send and receive telecommunications and
data traffic, and signals the importance of telecommunications to
the Island’s economy, now and in the future. It also highlights the
Island’s growing global reputation as a location for eBusiness.
“We already had multiple routes off Island which have proved
extremely reliable,” says, Managing Director, Chris Hall, “but we
have decided to make a step change in both the resilience and
capacity of the links we can offer clients. The decision to make
this investment was prompted by what is, in effect, a growing
transformation of the Manx economy, particularly around eBusiness,
eGaming and eFinance, all of which rely on ultra high capacity and
reliable connectivity between our Island and the world’s
international data hubs”.
According to Manx Telecom, the reduction in bandwidth costs is
closely linked to the newly enhanced connectivity. “As demand for
eBusiness solutions on the Island increases, so the capacity and
marginal unit cost of utility products such as Internet bandwidth
and electricity must fall,” says Chris, “and we wanted to ensure
that the maximum number of customers would be able to take
advantage of the enhanced reliability and capacity of the new
links, so have cut bandwidth costs for our off-Island Ethernet and
Internet Protocol solutions. At the same time, we have introduced a
simpler pricing structure across a number of products to offer
significant savings at all levels of bandwidth usage. It’s all part
of our continued focus on reducing the cost of connectivity, and by
doing so, underpinning and enhancing the Isle of Man’s position as
a global leader in eBusiness.”
Manx Telecom maintains that, in the wider world, the criteria
for judging the Island is changing.
“The Isle of Man is now seen as an international business centre
with a highly diversified economy,” says Chris “and it’s an
absolute and fundamental requirement that we the incumbent
wholesale and retail operator deliver ultra reliable, high capacity
connectivity linking the Isle of Man to the rest of the world.
Failure is not an option. Also, in addition to greater resilience,
the enhanced capacity for the new circuits is considerable. The
technology used within this network is extremely scalable, and is
capable of delivering more and more capacity as the Island’s
success as an eBusiness economy continues to gain momentum.”
Recently, PokerStars (a Data Centre client of Manx Telecom)
hosted the world’s largest online poker tournament from Manx
Telecom’s Isle of Man Data Centre, which saw 149,196 players
simultaneously competing online for a top prize of $50,000. The
tournament, which took place over six hours, set a new Guinness
World Record, with PokerStars seeing a total of 444,037
simultaneous players online at one time – a massive number for what
is a highly interactive site.
Gary Hill, Head of Network and Data Centre Operations at
PokerStars, commented, “To maintain our competitive advantage, and
to run record breaking events of this nature, requires real
commitment and a strong partnership with your connectivity and data
centre solutions provider. I’m very glad to say it continues to be
our strategy to work with Manx Telecom to ensure that the Isle of
Man is best serviced with a diverse range of multi-gigabit
connectivity solutions and purpose built world class data centres.
Players increasingly only want to deal with reputable established
companies in well regulated jurisdictions, and being based in the
Isle of Man, regulated by Isle of Man Gambling Supervision
Commission and supported by Manx Telecom, PokerStars is ideally
placed to continue its exponential growth and keep breaking records
for the foreseeable future”.
The Isle of Man government has prioritised the development of
eBusiness on the Island, and was one of the first jurisdictions in
the world to introduce legislation specifically designed to
facilitate eBusiness and eGaming companies establishing themselves
on the Island. Manx Telecom is also an Isle of Man Government
Gambling Supervision approved provider of Disaster Recovery
Services to eGaming businesses world wide.
Manx Telecom has frequently pioneered telecoms technologies, and
is seen as a leader in converged networks and services. It was one
of the first operators in the world to offer broadband ADSL
services to customers; in 2001 it became the first company in
Europe to launch a live 3G network, and In November 2005 it became
the world’s first company to offer a HSDPA (3.5G) service. More
recently, its investment in FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) and in
ADSL2+ technology has ensured 100% broadband coverage to all lines
on the Island, which currently experiences higher average broadband
speeds than the UK and many other mainland European countries.
Manx Telecom has invested more than £50 million over the last
five years in the development of a world-class telecommunications
network, and is committed to a further £30 million investment in
the next three years. Part of this investment involved over £25
million designing and building a Next Generation Network (NGN) the
digital backbone for the Island’s future development. Based on
Internet Protocol (IP), the NGN enables Manx Telecom to offer its
personal and business customers on the Isle of Man the ability to
access and manipulate voice, data, television, and video, on one
seamless converged network – the first community in the world to be
able to do so.
Central to the company’s bid for global eBusiness customers has
been a 15 million investment in a purpose build Data Centre
offering world class data hosting, fully managed outsourced hosting
platforms, disaster recovery, offsite data backup services, and
global connectivity. The Data Centre’s clients currently include
blue chip companies in a wide variety of eBusiness sectors, from
eGovernment and eFinance to eMoney, eGaming, eMusic, and
eTravel.
According to Manx Telecom, its recent investment in enhanced
off-Island circuit capacity is expected to make the Island an even
more attractive location for businesses in a global economy, and
enable businesses already established on the Island to maximise
their potential to trade with the world.