SSE Telecoms has extended its relationship with Janet, the UK research and education network.

As part of a five-year contract, with an option to extend for a further five years, SSE Telecoms will deliver network services that replace Janet’s current Southern regional network, also provided by SSE.

The network connects colleges, universities and other education institutions in the south to Janet’s core national network.

With the demand for bandwidth in higher and further education institutions rising, Janet said it sought a network infrastructure upgrade that would initially provide 10Gb wavelengths based on a new fiber ring architected to the same standards as the recently launched Janet6 backbone, providing a highly scalable and flexible network service.

The SSE Telecoms upgrade will provide a dark fiber core network using 280km of underground fiber routes, allowing Janet to deliver high bandwidth network services to a further 70 higher and further education institutions.

Janet said its decision to work with SSE Telecoms was down to its ability to deliver in a flexible manner. 

Institutions will initially enjoy a ten-fold increase in network capacity with the option to upgrade to higher bandwidth in future once the project is complete, it said.

The company said its 18m end-users across educational institutions already benefit from SSE Telecoms’ network services, which employ more than 6,500km of dedicated fiber, creating one of the UK’s largest private networks.

This network connects close to 1,000 facilities and institutions into 30 core sites, located across the UK and Ireland.

The new network will enable Janet to meet the demands of modern academic institutions, support academic collaborations, distance learning, remote working and the general internationaliZation of education and research.

Janet head of strategic technologies Jeremy Sharp said the collaboration between SSE Telecoms and Janet enabled the company to deliver world-class service to UK academic institutions.

“With SSE Telecoms’ impressive fibeR network in place, we are confident that we can push the boundaries of education even further, by extending our geographical reach and providing unbeatable bandwidth, with virtually limitless scope for collaboration and technical innovation,” Sharp said.

SSE Telecoms managing director Chris Jagusz said the company was delighted to extend its work with Janet.

“With our network in place, more than 18m staff and students already benefit from greater connectivity, and our new contract will deliver a minimum ten-fold increase in capacity for those who need it most.  We are very proud to be supporting innovation within multiple higher and further education institutions in this way,” Jagusz said.