BSkyB moves to
converged network


13 Apr 2005

With the announcement that it has awarded a three-year contract to Cable & Wireless (C&W), media giant British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has become a convert to the increasingly popular concept of internet protocol (IP) networking.

The contract is for an IP-based wide area network (WAN) across multiple sites in the UK and Ireland. BSkyB previously had separate WANs and wanted to consolidate its separate networks into a single IP virtual private network with quality of service (IP-VPN QoS) that would allow it to carry voice, data and video over a single network — thus saving on network maintenance and management costs.

Bob Glenn, telecoms manager of BSkyB, described the network as “a best-in-class technology solution”, adding that it was scheduled to go live in the summer.

Noreen O’Hare, country director Ireland of C&W, said, “We’re very pleased to be working with BSkyB on this phase of its technology enhancements. We see IP-VPN QoS as the first building block that enables the adoption of a number of integrated, IP-based services at the customer’s own speed.”

By Brian Skelly