Metropolitan Area Networks Provide a Model for Delivery of a Pan-Irish Open Access Network

Dr. Willie Donnelly, the Director of the TSSG, co-founded the South East Information Society (SEISS) initiative in 2000. The original SERPANT proposal for funding from the Irish Department of Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources (DCMNR), which came from SEISS, led to the investment in the regional MANs in the South East of Ireland: a regional approach to the rollout of broadband in six metropolitan area networks in Clonmel, Dungarvan, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford.

These MANs constitute an OAN (Open Access Network) owned by the public body (in this case Waterford Corporation), but leased out to competing operators. At a recent launch event e-net, which has been awarded the contract to manage Metropolitan Area Networks in 19 regional centres across the country was announced as the neutral administrators of this network in the South East. It is as part of regional and national networks of such MANs. Service providers can pay standard rates to e-net to get rack space in the co-location facility in each city/town. This then means that businesses connected can buy services from any of the service providers who have set up like this. The idea is that this reduces the infrastructural investment costs that each service provider has to put up before being able to start offering broadband to customers. It is anticipated that as a result of this broadband infrastructure can be made available in the regions at competitive prices that will radically shake up the market.

As yet the MAN service is primarily targeted at business and large public sector customers, rather than individual end users, but with new wireless standards with wide area coverage we could see the MANs being used as a core network for a much wider service offering to consumers.

Research Director at the TSSG, Mr. Mícheál Ó Foghlú, has been interested in the concept of open access networks for a few years now, both in terms of core optical networks, and in terms of wireless access networks. Commenting on the event he stated "I have been very impressed by KTH (Technical University of Stockholm) and their involvement in Stockholm Open, which currently allows multiple operators to share both a core optical network and a WiFi access network in Stockholm and its suburbs. I hope that the MANs can deliver a pan-Irish open access network based on these same principles."