Virgin Radio signs data centre hosting deal for web broadcasting

Hosted data centre will provide better quality service to more listeners

Virgin Radio has signed a deal for data centre and infrastructure hosting services to support its online radio station.

Under the terms of the contract, supplier TelecityRedbus will supply Virgin Radio with infrastructure services from its Manchester data centre, providing a carrier-independent environment and guaranteeing that IP and telecoms services are always available.

David Jones, head of technology services at Virgin Radio, says the move is part of a wider strategy.

'To manage our costs we interconnect directly with lots of ISPs. We do that in a variety of locations and one of those is Manchester. This is part of our wider strategy of reducing the costs of streaming audio to our listeners. Also it allows us to put our streams out in a higher quality which we wouldn't always have been able to do,' he said.

Online radio stations are enjoying an upsurge in popularity with figures released by radio audience measurement body, Rajar, suggesting that more than half of the UK adult population is now listening to radio using one of the available digital platforms.

The percentage of those listening via the internet also increased to 20.8 per cent from 17.3 per cent during the first three months of 2006.

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