Fibernet Group plc announced it has successfully installed a high-speed Wide Area Network (WAN) for the British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom.
Fibernet's highly resilient ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network replaces the British Library's aging BT SMDS network. The new infrastructure has seen an increase of over 300 percent in capacity and 63 percent in the speed of file transfer time across the network between sites, as well as a 10 percent reduction in overall running costs.
The new ATM network links the main British Library sites at Boston Spa and St Pancras, allowing high-speed transfer of voice, data and video of up to 45 Mbps between multiple sites. Individual British Library locations can now communicate with one another across a single network, and share the same connection for voice, data and video transfer.
The seamless communication enabled by the new infrastructure is critical to the efficient operation of the library, which receives over 455,000 reader visits and 21 million online visits each year (figures for the year 2000/01). The network is highly scalable and can be easily expanded to cater for future requirements.
Roger Anstay, Internet & Intranet Services Manager of the British Library, said, "Through Fibernet, we are now able to operate key servers at either location due to the fully integrated infrastructure."
Fibernet installed the ATM network in four months. The project team managed a seamless transition from the original BT SMDS network to a fully automated switching ATM network. The new network has also incorporated the British Library's existing network infrastructure including legacy protocols across the ATM Wide Area Network.
About Fibernet:
Fibernet Group plc is a high-speed data communications group dedicated to the design, supply, installation, management and support of bespoke high-speed digital networks. For more information, visit www.fibernet.co.uk.
About the British Library:
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.bl.uk.