An additional 150km of 100GBs/s fibre will be invested into the greater Dublin area, to include DCU, by 2019.
Colt Technology Services, a multinational communications company, will invest a further €15 million into the city, doubling its current 150km of fibre to 300km.
The development is part of the company’s major 18-month global roll-out, stretching across Europe, Asia and North America.
“We see Dublin as being one of Europe’s key growth cities in the coming years,” said CEO of Colt Technology Services, Carl Grivner.
“With multinational investment in Ireland only likely to increase, it’s crucial that Colt has the technological backbone in Ireland to support its anticipated traffic growth.
The extended fibre network will provide higher bandwidth solutions in the area. This means that incoming or existing businesses within the 300km region will now have access to more customers and the ability to communicate faster.
“The expansion also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to enabling the digital transformation of businesses in today’s increasingly fast paced digital economy,” he added.
Colt’s existing network currently connects 350 enterprise buildings and 23 data centres around Dublin. Globally, the company connects 850 data centres across 28 countries. Griver explained that the company views the Irish capital as being in the top five for growth potential, hence finalising their decision to proceed with the development.
According to Engineering student Michael Kelleher, this is a welcomed development and one that the city lacks.
“In my opinion, these types of investments are absolutely vital,” he told The College View.
“Just from an engineering view, over the last decade or two the, the courses taught at university have gone through drastic changes.
The use of computers has gone from practically non-existent to being used in nearly every module. If DCU’s degrees and as a result part of the Irish economy want to keep up with the rest of the world, these investments need to continue,” he added.
Kelleher explained that these kinds of investments will not only create jobs, but may potentially stop qualified graduates from emigrating.
“The main reason why some of my friends and I are thinking of leaving Ireland is because of better job opportunities abroad,” Kelleher added.
“If these investments improve job prospects for us I think a lot less students would consider leaving Ireland,” he concluded.
According to the Irish Online Economy Report 2018, published in February, 6 per cent of the Irish economy now takes place online, which is ahead of the European average of 5 per cent.
24 per cent of all Irish retailer’s revenues now come from international visitors.
Colt, which is headquartered in London, has stated that their new connectivity solutions will be rolled out in several phases, having already kicked off proceedings last September.
Gabija Gataveckaite
Image Credit: Colt Technology Services