Cable & Wireless begins European next-gen network rollout

MSP will connect 21 locations across Ireland, the UK and Continental Europe

Telecoms giant Cable & Wireless (C&W) has officially started the implementation of its pan-European next-generation network with a massive upgrade to its core infrastructure.

The Multi-Service Platform (MSP) will be rolled out across 21 locations in Ireland and Continental Europe – it is already available in the UK - which C &W reckons will give customers greater levels of network consolidation across multiple regions.

"Cable & Wireless's MSP is one of the most advanced global telecommunications networks in the world," said David Molony, principal analyst at Ovum.

"The extension of the MSP to Europe will enable C&W to provide greater support to its international customers through a range of innovative next-generation services. This announcement sees the company take a significant step forward in its global connectivity strategy," he added.

The deployment is expected to be completed by the end of September and will be joined to the rest of the company's global network spanning the UK, Asia-Pacific, North America and other parts of Europe. This means that from November, newly connected users should be able to access C&W's virtual private network, IPVPN QoS.

The company stressed that, rather than take on the incumbents in each region, it partners with the major operators and helps complement their existing offerings by adding global reach and a range of other services.

"The rollout of the MSP across Ireland and Continental Europe will see another piece of our global IP network fall into place," said Nick Lambert, managing director of Global Markets at C&W.

"Today's announcement is a significant milestone in the journey towards the completion of a truly global next-generation network that will benefit all our customers with an international footprint."

The move will help the company ensure it can reliably deliver a greater range of real-time applications and services that will "help customers drive new revenue streams and/or cut network costs".

These include high-definition videoconferencing, managed hosted services, datacentre operations and remote management.

"Now we will deliver a step change in capacity capability, utilising the very best Ethernet technologies alongside our traditional services," concluded Noreen O'Hare, director of Europe at Cable&Wireless.

"MSP enables lower cost, higher speed, application aware connectivity within our European base and to our global network in more than 150 countries including Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa and USA."