Access to financial markets depends on communications systems that enable information to be shared and transactions to be made across the glob
Access to financial markets depends on communications systems that enable information to be shared and transactions to be made across the globe. The experience of Cable & Wireless in financial centres across the world, from London to Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands, helps it to understand and deliver the requirements of financial institutions.
Operations at Cable & Wireless are conducted on a truly global scale with its network infrastructure extending from the UK and continental Europe to North America and the Asia Pacific region. In 2006, businesses in Guernsey will be directly connected into this global network following a £6.5m investment by Cable & Wireless in a new cable and technology project called HUGO.
HUGO stands for High-capacity, Undersea, Guernsey Optical-fibre and will deliver the capacity and connectivity that financial companies need to run high-speed applications cost effectively. Via HUGO, telecommunications services in the island will be resiliently and directly connected into the Cable & Wireless global backbone,providing the gateway to the US, Europe and
Asia, as well as the UK. Connectivity in Guernsey will be on a par with the major international business centres around the world such as London, Hong Kong, New York, Sydney, Tokyo and Paris.
Project HUGO is part of the company’s plans to revolutionise communications services throughout the Channel Islands. These plans will see new mobile, broadband and business services developed alongside the core network infrastructure, providing significant business opportunities both locally and internationally. The opportunities are driven by a sharp focus on customers’ requirements.
Every business is unique in terms of its objectives, whether they operate as a hub for others, as a spur from a central office located elsewhere, or as an e-business with servers hosted remotely.
In Guernsey, our solutions include:
쳌 Voice, data and business continuity services.
쳌 Advanced hosting, IP connectivity and applications.
쳌 Broadband and internet services.
쳌 Mobile and messaging services supported by more than 250 international roaming agreements.
IP technology in particular is increasingly bringing voice, data and video together in a converged network.
As the only Cisco Premier Partner in Guernsey, Cable & Wireless works with Cisco, the leader in networking technology, to bring the benefits of convergence to financial services companies. This means offering end-to-end IP networking solutions that enable the convergence of all types of data, including messaging, voice, video and web content, on a single network infrastructure. The security of data is vital because of the threat of hackers, viruses and other malicious attacks. Cable & Wireless offers state of the art solutions to defeat the modern phenomenon of distributed denial of service attacks via the internet. Equipment on the Cable & Wireless global internet backbone can detect such attacks and block illegitimate traffic, while allowing the flow of legitimate transactions to continue and the web site to remain operational.
Advances in communications and in the requirements of financial services mean innovation and leading-edge skills are vital. Investment by Cable & Wireless in worldclass telecommunications continues to support the local businesses and ensure that Guernsey remains a world-renowned centre for financial services.
By Mark Briers – Mark Briers is commercial director of Cable & Wireless Guernsey
