Aspire has fought off stiff competition to secure a £50k contract with Gateshead Council.
Rapidly-expanding Aspire was appointed by Gateshead Council to deliver a high speed, 100Mb internet service via the Gateshead Technology Innovation (G-ti) network to four of the borough’s leading business centres.
As a result, tenants of Gateshead International Business Centre, Greenesfield Business Centre and Baltimore House can now benefit from superfast, uncontended internet connectivity with no upload or download limits or restrictions. The service provided by Aspire will also serve the £9.9m Northern Design Centre, part funded by European Regional Development Fund, which is due for completion in early 2012.
Of the significant contract win, Chris Fraser, Technical Director of Aspire said: “The G-ti network has put Gateshead at the forefront of broadband technology and ensured that the borough is one of the best connected locations in the UK. Aspire is therefore honoured and delighted to be working in partnership with both the Council and G-ti to equip some of the region’s primary business centres with leading-edge technology.
“Gateshead Council is the first local authority in England to install a world-class fibre network of this kind which in turn enables service providers like ourselves to deliver fast, reliable and resilient connectivity to local businesses over a future-proof infrastructure.
“Since going live in 2009, the G-ti infrastructure has attracted a wealth of business to the Gateshead area; in fact we now have some 60 customers who currently receive their services from Aspire via the G-ti network.”
Nigel Begg, Managing Director of Aspire added: “The 100Mb service we have provided has capacity up to 1Gb and replaces a 30Mb connection that was previously being shared by approximately 100 businesses, all of which have now been migrated to the new service with minimum disruption and downtime.”
Gateshead Council cabinet member for employment and skills, Cllr Malcolm Graham, said: “Our existing business centres and the under construction Northern Design Centre provide the vital step for business either starting out or looking to take a big step forwards. Providing high quality facilities is a big part of our offer to businesses and in this day and age high speed broadband is an essential component.”
