SSE Enterprise Telecoms has revealed plans to expand its network, adding seven new data centers in and around Manchester city centre.
The connectivity and data centre services provider took the decision to invest in Britain’s second largest city due to the increasing numbers of businesses, including the BBC, that have chosen to relocate there.
Colin Sempill, Managing Firector of Telecoms, said: "Our decision to bring seven new data centers on-net in and around Manchester, the UK’s second largest city and business hub, is in line with our continued focus on delivering our ultra reliable and high quality Ethernet and optical networking services to the UK’s most demanding enterprises."
The seven data centers that are now fully participating members of the SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ national optical network include DataCentred, Dock 10 at Media City, M247, UKFast – MaNOC 6 and the Telecity Group at Williams, Reynolds and Synergy Houses.
The sustained inward investment in Manchester has resulted in a marked increase in software development and IT services businesses in the region over the last years.
"We look forward to furthering our nationwide reach, with Manchester playing a key part of our strategic network expansion plans," Mr Sempill added.
By adding these seven data centers to its nationwide community of similarly connected sites, Telecoms will be able to support enterprises in Manchester and help those organizations connect to customers, suppliers and partners at extremely high speeds including at a nationwide scale.
This latest initiative follows the recent completion of the first phase of the company’s ambitious network expansion plan, Project Edge, which increased the reach of its fiber network to more than 13,700km with a total of 234 points of presence, serving more than 200,000 metropolitan business postcodes, nationwide.
This year, the Office of National Statistics reported that Manchester had the highest growth rate of all Local Enterprise Partnership areas in England, experiencing growth of 4.6 percent (£2.5 billion) in 2013.
