Virgin Media wins Met Office networking contract

Met Office's £97m supercomputer needs a very high-speed network connection

Virgin Media Business has won a contract to provide connectivity to the Met Office's next-generation Cray supercomputer - one of the world's fastest high-performance computers.

The computer is capable of more than 23,000 trillion calculations per second and will enable scientists to provide more accurate weather forecasting and help countries become more resilient to high impact weather. Computing interviewed Met Office CIO Charles Ewen last month to find out more.

Virgin Media Business claims that it has created a bespoke service to meet the unique connectivity needs of the Met Office. It will supply two diverse, high capacity, optical circuits to move large volumes of data between the Met Office HQ and the building that will house the new super computer at the Exeter Science Park, two kilometres away.

Specifically, says Virgin Media, it will be providing two diverse, high-capacity optical circuits, with each circuit carrying six one gigabits per second (Gbps), one 10Gbps and one 100Gbps Ethernet services.

The new Met Office HPC Complex at the Science Park will house both the IT Hall and a "collaboration space" where a wide range of industry organisations, research establishments and start-ups can come to collaborate.

"To power some of the world's most intelligent technology we need a robust network that can weather all kinds of storms," said Dave Underwood, deputy director of the high-performance computing programme at the Met Office.

He continued: "Virgin Media created a bespoke solution for us, which meets the complex needs of this supercomputer and will ensure we can sustain quality weather and climate services."

Rob Orr, executive director of sales, Virgin Media Business, said: "The Met Office provides such a crucial service to this country. It is essential they have the right technology and infrastructure in place to fulfil their needs now and into the future."

The contract was procured through the government's Network Service Framework (NSF), of which Virgin Media Business is a preferred supplier.