New pure fibre network, running over existing PSN is the first step to truly connecting Newport’s government run services London, 04 February 2014: Leading fibre optic infrastructure provider CityFibre and Logicalis, the global provider of IT solutions and managed services can today announce a partnership to construct a ‘Community Safety Network’ – a high capacity resilient pure fibre ring in Wales’ third biggest city - Newport. The project is part of the UK’s Public Sector Network (PSN) a ‘network of networks’, which aims to unify public sector network infrastructure procurement across the UK.

The fibre connection in Newport will be designed to accommodate the growing community safety estate as well as a broad range of applications and will initially connect over 50 sites. This will allow Newport City Council to harness future smart technologies as the city evolves, including ultra-high definition CCTV, digital information boards, and traffic and alarm monitoring applications.

Commenting on the partnership, CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “This project is an essential part of transforming Newport into a modern, fully connected, digital city. As we move ever closer to living in a truly connected world, the network that runs throughout UK cities will increasingly act as the veins that allows it to consistently evolve, technologically, for the benefit of its residents.

We are delighted to be a part of this project, alongside Logicalis, which is a big name in both the public sector and enterprise space, with a huge amount of experience, particularly having run the UK’s largest PSN project for the last seven years. It is fantastic that they are bought into CityFibre’s model and we look forward to exploring further PSN opportunities with them.”

Mark Starkey, Managing Director of Logicalis adds: “We have been working with the local authorities in Wales for a long time now and are continuing to build on that collaboration. There is huge potential to transform Welsh cities by installing future-proof fibre networks and support community-changing initiatives such as this through the exploitation of this infrastructure. We see this project in Newport as the first step on a long-term partnership with CityFibre.”

Cllr Bob Bright, Leader of Newport City Council CEO said, “Logicalis’ partnership with CityFibre has created a very exciting proposition for Newport. We are in a process of major transition in the city with substantial regeneration and redevelopment. Community Safety is an absolute priority for the city and I am delighted to see this partnership provide a step-change in the services we provide.”