Glide connects Proximity Edge 8 datacentre to Birmingham dark fibre ring

Ultrafast broadband connectivity and fibre infrastructure provider Glide Group is to take advantage of Proximity Data Centres’ newly acquired Birmingham edge colocation datacentre to gain a connection for its rapidly expanding dark fibre infrastructure.

Proximity claims to be the UK’s fastest growing regional edge colocation datacentre provider, and the new dark fibre network directly links Proximity’s growing base of enterprise business, cloud provider and content delivery customers to Glide’s 30km fibre ring spanning the city of Birmingham, enabling access to a growing range of diverse low-latency dark fibre connectivity services.

In addition, Glide’s dark fibre infrastructure connection will enable Proximity Birmingham (Edge 8) to ensure thousands of businesses across the West Midlands have reliable access to low-latency, highly responsive applications and services.

Glide’s dark fibre connection also provides Proximity with an additional network route into the Proximity Birmingham (Edge 8) edge datacentre. This allows leading national and regional carriers and service providers to use the network to offer their own dark fibre and managed “lit” connectivity services to their customers.

Proximity Edge 8 in Birmingham is part of Proximity’s UK network of interconnected regional edge datacentres, which also includes sites in Bridgend, Swindon, Nottingham, Rugby, Liverpool, Chester Gates and Wakefield. The company expects to have 20 sites available in the next 12 months, all in close proximity to major conurbation areas.

“The availability of diverse dark fibre connectivity is vital to ensuring our edge colocation customers’ data and applications are always seamlessly and securely available to the users that require them,” said John Hall, managing director of colocation at Proximity Data Centres.

“Our connection to Glide’s network means our customers now have an increasing choice of dark fibre routes available to them at our Birmingham facility and straightforward access to carriers and service providers serving the West Midlands region and nationwide with dark fibre and managed lit services.”

Glide aims to offer an infrastructure and utilities business, delivering hyperfast connectivity across the UK and Europe and operating in sectors such as student and built-to-rent accommodation, shared HMO living, and business parks.

It says it operates in areas that are difficult to access and service while enabling devices, buildings and cities to become smarter. Its national full-fibre network reaches more than 100,000 premises.

Adding his opinion to the partnership with Proximity, Glide Group chief technology officer Sean Lowry said: “Glide’s dark fibre connection to Proximity’s edge datacentre in central Birmingham is highly strategic to our growing presence in the West Midlands.

“Its datacentre is located within easy reach of our fibre ring as well as all the major fibre networks traversing the UK. It is ideally positioned for helping us meet the connectivity requirements of local enterprise businesses, retail parks and education campuses, as well as hyperscalers, CDNs and gaming providers requiring low latency and optimised data backhaul.”