Contract provides connectivity services to support heavy volume data in worldwide weather forecasts
The Met Office has moved towards the deployment of its next generation supercomputer with a contract with Virgin Media Business to provide the connectivity.
The company said it has created a bespoke service for the organisation, which will provide two diverse, high capacity optical circuits to move large volumes of data between the Met Office headquarters and a building that will house the supercomputer at the Exeter Science Park.
This will include the IT hall and a collaboration space where industry organisations, research establishments and start-ups will be able to work together.
The computer, claimed to be one of the world's fastest, will be capable of more than 23,000 trillion calculations per second and will support Met Office scientists in weather forecasting for different parts of the world.
Dave Underwood, deputy director of the high performance computing programme at the Met Office, said: “To power some of the world’s most intelligent technology we need a robust network that can weather all kinds of storms. Virgin Media Business 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.”
The contract was procured through the Government’s Network Service Framework (NSF) of which Virgin Media Business is a preferred supplier.
