Occam Networks Helps Cut Digital Divide In Pioneering Scottish Community Housing Co-operative
Partnership With Fibre Options Leads To Second Occam Deployment In UK
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. and LONDON, United Kingdom – January 6 2010 - Occam Networks, which launched itself into the EMEA region in September 2009, has supplied the highly successful BLC 6000 multiservice access platform (MSAP) with GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) capabilities as part of a contract won by its UK value added reseller Fibre Options to supply West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative (WWHC) with an advanced fibre-based network.
WWHC, a community housing development in Cambuslang, on the outskirts of Glasgow, launched the pioneering fibre optic based communications network for its residents and simplified network operations by running triple play services, CCTV and home alarm systems over Occam’s single operating system and latest GPON FTTP access equipment.
“WWHC has always been innovative in its approach to community regeneration and we believe that there is huge potential to be gained for our community in developing a next generation communications infrastructure that is future proof and will offer our tenants more than triple play. Digital exclusion compounds social exclusion and we see the provision of superior broadband as a critical component of improving the quality of our residents’ lives,” said WWHC Director, Paul Farrell
“The network utilises many of the Occam BLC 6000’s integrated software tools to provide the core communication services as well as services designed to improve the lives of its members from a single platform. These services include Home Help Alarms via a VoIP service, CCTV over fibre optics to ensure evidential quality video and the capacity for access to community generated video content, which can be used, for example, for training videos or information services.
“Now the infrastructure is in place, the plan is to develop a ‘Community Portal’ that will be a platform over which the community will be able to access voluntary and statutory services in their own homes. In turn, these service providers will be able to utilise the new technology to respond to the changing needs of the community and the individuals living there,” concluded Paul.
“With the BLC 6000 from Occam we have all the capabilities of a telecommunications network in a compact footprint that not only helps improve the community but also minimizes the impact on the environment,” said Fibre Options Managing Director Mark Trojacek. “As a dense GPON FTTP solution, the BLC 6000 minimizes power consumption which reduces the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) requirement and therefore saves even further energy and heating issues that would be generated by alternative technologies.”
“Occam is proud to be part of an initiative aimed at improving the quality of communications and access to tools intended to bridge the digital divide in communities such as West Whitlawburn,” said Juan Vela, Director of Solutions Marketing and Strategy at Occam. “We look forward to working with Fibre Options to meet the needs of WWHC and other communities in the UK.”
This is the second major success for Occam in the UK market in as many months. It is also supporting Fibre Options at Scarborough Business Park which is England’s first Open Access Network (OAN) and one of the first anywhere in Europe to offer bandwidth over 100 Mbps to its customers. The availability of such high speed broadband in one of the United Kingdom’s most rural and remote areas has already won the local authority for Scarborough the European Commission’s award as the “most enterprising town” in the UK, which was then followed up with the same accolade for the whole of Europe.
