City of York

• City of York is to become one of the most technologically-advanced cities in the UK
• Investment in a city-wide “dark fibre” optic network supporting bandwidth speeds of up to 10Gbps.
• Managed service project under a £13.7m 8-year contract with Pinacl Solutions. 

The City of York is set to become one of the most technologically-advanced cities in the UK, following the announcement of plans to invest in a city-wide fibre-optic network which will provide access high speed services up to 5,000 times faster than traditional communications technologies.

By installing a new 'dark fibre' network – to be provided and fully-managed under a £13.7m 8-year contract - Pinacl Solutions and one of its key partners H2O Networks will provide a fully-future proof networking environment for York, capable of supporting bandwidth speeds of up to 10Gbps, while delivering much-needed and much-improved high-speed network access to the City's 70 schools, 14 libraries, accommodation and council offices.

The managed service contract will initially combine the currently separate Council and Education networks onto a single unified IP network using dark fibre as the medium.

Work will begin on installing the dark fibre network around the city from November, with much of the cable being laid in the City’s existing sewer network – a fast and effective technique which not only minimises disruption, but also significantly speeds up the implementation process.

As well as providing super fast broadband connectivity, the new network will also permit the delivery of innovative services such as IP telephony and video conferencing, as well as CCTV and a variety of traffic management services. Most importantly it will exceed upcoming BECTA guidelines for school connectivity and will support services to around 24,000 pupils in the York area.