COLT HAS expanded its network in Ireland, with a new route between London and Dublin now fully operational.

Colt specialises in business telecoms services.

The extension to its high-capacity network is part of a Europe-wide investment programme and will significantly increase the amount of data traffic that Colt can carry for its customers.

The move is expected to benefit the ICT and financial services sectors, allowing enterprises to deliver information at a faster rate between Ireland and mainland Europe via London.

The investment will mean lower latency for customers – which is a marker for a highly efficient network – as well as higher speed capacity for Colt’s multinational clients.

The company provides services to many of Ireland’s multinationals, working alongside firms such as PayPal as well as indigenous companies such as Ardagh.

Its pan-European 43,000km network spans 22 countries and includes metropolitan area networks in 39 major cities.

The new extension puts Dublin on an equal level with other cities in Europe, Colt director Gary Keogh said, describing the move as “significant” for its Irish business.*

The company did not say how much it had invested in the Irish network.

However, last month it outlined plans to spend between €30 million and €50 million on expanding its European network, with some €250 million earmarked to grow its data centre services over five years.

A further €70 million to €120 million is intended to go towards enhancing the company’s service portfolio.

Also in the works is an extension of the facilities available in the Dublin Metropolitan Network to Cork, opening up a new market in the south of the country.

“It protects our existing customer base in that it enables us to bring the world-class products and services we have to our base in Cork,” Mr Keogh added.

Multinationals operating in the Cork area will also be able to “leapfrog” into Europe on the Colt backbone network.

The company is predicting a surge for increased computing power on demand over the next two years.

Colt has a network of data centres across Europe on its own fibre network, which leads back into Dublin, that will enable it to meet these needs and offer its Irish-based customers such on-demand capability.

“We are very much moving into an area of convergence in terms of computing power, storage and networking,” Mr Keogh said.

The company plans to expand its network according to the requirements of its customers around the country.

* This article was amended to correct an error on June 28th