National Digital Week

SIRO Offers Irish Start-ups the Chance to Attend National Digital Week & Experience Gigabit Connectivity at the Ludgate Hub.

To celebrate our involvement in National Digital Week, we’re offering Irish start-ups a chance to win four passes for National Digital Week and five nights’ accommodation in Skibbereen, as well as the chance to also experience firsthand the power of SIRO’s 1 Gigabit broadband connectivity at the Ludgate Hub. Any Irish start-up interested in winning simply has to tweet SIRO or post to their Facebook page to explain why they would benefit from attending National Digital Week. Ireland’s second ever National Digital Week will take place from November 10 – 12th in Skibbereen in the heart of West Cork, with 1,600 entrepreneurs, digital marketers, technology enthusiasts and those embarking on a digital journey, expected to attend. The event has been organised by the Ludgate Hub, Ireland’s first rural digital hub and will feature 80 top class speakers. Launching the competition Marianne Murphy, Head of Marketing at SIRO, said: “We want to inspire the next wave of Irish start-ups and give them the chance to attend National Digital Week by hearing from technology leaders in picturesque Skibbereen. While they’re there, they will also be able to work in the Ludgate Hub and experience Gigabit broadband connectivity for themselves.” National Digital Week co-organiser Callum Donnelly, added: ”We want to show the Irish start-up community that they do not need to limit their ambition because of where they are located. Thanks to the rollout of SIRO’s 1 Gigabit broadband network, it is now possible for businesses to establish themselves in Skibbereen, so this is an ideal opportunity to showcase West Cork at the heart of a Gigabit society.” Officially opened in July this year, the Ludgate Digital Hub is the first rural hub to receive a massive 1 Gigabit connectivity provided by Vodafone as the town is connected to SIRO’s 100% fibre-optic broadband network. The Ludgate Hub is part of an initiative which aims to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the West Cork region and seeks to create 500 jobs in five years with an initial 75+ jobs in the start-up phase. The hub is now fully operational and has over 30 people signed up and working from the premises. First Prize: Passes for National Digital Week and 5 Nights’ Accommodation and the opportunity to work in the SIRO pod at the Ludgate Hub. Runner Up Prizes: Tickets to National Digital Week. How To Enter: Simply tell us either on our Facebook or via Twitter why you would benefit from attending National Digital Week. Check out the terms and conditions for more information on our terms of use page. Good Luck!

SIRO to invest €40 million in rollout to 6 new towns by end of 2016

SIRO, the open-access broadband provider delivering Ireland’s first 100% fibre-optic broadband network to 50 towns nationwide, has announced that it will invest €40 million to expand its rollout to its next six locations – Mullingar, Newbridge, Ennis, Portlaoise, Drogheda and Carlow. As a result, services will be live or construction work will be underway in 17 towns across the country by the end of the year – Dundalk, Cavan, Carrigaline, Sligo, Letterkenny, Tralee, Wexford, Drogheda, Westport, Castlebar, Mullingar, Newbridge, Ennis, Ratheniska, Carlow and Skibbereen. SIRO’s 100% fibre optic broadband network is having a transformative effect in regional towns where services are live, with regional towns like Tralee and Sligo gaining the same level of connectivity as international hubs like Tokyo and Hong Kong. SIRO towns are able to attract investment and encourage more people to live and work within their local community. For example, the Skibbereen community which came together to launch their Ludgate Hub - powered by SIRO 1 Gigabit connectivity- aims to create 500 jobs in five years in the West Cork region and provide a multi-million euro boost to the local economy. Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, Sean Atkinson, SIRO CEO, said: “Since we started construction in August last year, we have received a fantastic response in our roll out towns. We are delighted to add six new fibrehoods to our network build. We are now passing 10,000 premises per month and working in 17 towns. SIRO gives consumers and businesses in regional Ireland access to far better services than that available in Dublin and other cities, thus reversing the digital divide and allowing them to compete more effectively for investment and jobs. It is our ambition to become Ireland’s new national Telecoms infrastructure. We have plans for a second phase which covers over 300 smaller towns and we are shortlisted for the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) which aims to deliver high speed access to all citizens by 2020. We believe that Fibre-to-the-Building is the only solution capable of future proofing Ireland’s needs.” With 25% of Irish fixed broadband connections currently offering speeds of less than 10 Mbps, SIRO is a step-change in connectivity for regional Ireland. SIRO’s 100% fibre-to-the-building 1 Gigabit service is three times faster than the best service available in Dublin and over 10 times the best service available in the rest of Ireland. SIRO’s €450m network will meet the needs of Irish Internet users, now and in the future. Using the existing ESB network, SIRO is delivered by fibre optic cables all the way to the building. This technology, known as “FTTB”, has no copper connections at any point to slow down the network and delivers 1 Gigabit download and upload speeds. For example, a high definition film (4GB) takes one hour to download with a 10 Mbps connection - with SIRO it will take 30 seconds. SIRO is offered on an open-access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland. Last month SIRO revealed Digiweb will offer services via its 100% fibre-optic Gigabit broadband network, joining Vodafone as its second retail partner. Discussions with other retail partners are ongoing. 1 Comreg Quarterly data, Q2 2016

In 2011, Kansas City was the first city in the US and in the world to get Google Fibre resulting in a 1 Gigabit network. Google embarked on building Kansas City’s gigabit internet access service to help make internet access better and faster for everyone.

Members of the ESB Fibre-to-the-building Project team travelled to the US in 2013 to meet with similar companies who had deployed these fibre networks in Kansas. The ESB team met with an electricity company, EPB, and the main players involved in the Google Fiber rollout in Kansas. Here are the learnings of the roll out and of what 1 Gigabit can do for a community. How their dream became real? The former mayor of Kansas City, Joe Reardon negotiated the first Google Fiber development agreement in the US. Kansas successfully competed against over 1,100 other cities in submitting proposals. Kansas City Board of Public Utilities also successfully negotiated with Google about access to their infrastructure for the fiber roll out. Google Fiber then divided Kansas City into 200 “fiberhoods” that involved over 1,200 buildings. 

A 1 Gigabit network unlocks endless possibilities for small businesses. Kansas City is once again proof of how a fibre optic network attracts new businesses and sparks local tech scenes. Hanover Heights, home of the Kansas City Startup Village, was the first location in Kansas City to receive Google Fiber. Today, this Kansas City Startup Village is an entrepreneur-led, grassroots initiative helping to bolster the Kansas City entrepreneur and startup community. As Joe Reardon notes “there was a desire for creative entrepreneurs to be around one another.” Entrepreneurs of all types now come to the neighbourhood. ‘Homes for hackers’ was also established offering 6 months free rent to people as well as free high speed internet to locate within the Startup village. A French cloud computing company, chose to locate its North American base in Kansas city because they saw this innovative dynamic going on there and they wanted their company to be a part of it. There were large parts of the city, however, where people didn’t understand fully what it meant to be part of the digital economy. And so, the group “Connecting for Good” was created. The first of their projects was for two public housing areas; here they joined the wi-fi networks together so that residents in those areas could get access to the internet at no charge. Libraries were also established where young people were encouraged to learn digital photography. Here they were asked to take an honest look of their neighbourhoods in order to suggest new visions of what their neighbourhood should become. Kansas City has shown how fast, reliable broadband directly helps communities such as schools, clubs and committees to reach out, advance, connect online and kit as community. As former Mayor, Joe Reardon, acknowledges: “” [quote author="Joe Reardon" position="Former Mayor, Kansas City" image="1062"]Connecting parts of our city digitally at gigabit speeds actually had a chance to connect us personally as well.[/quote] There was also a collective effort to turn the fibrehoods green. Young people got engaged and became ambassadors. They met with community groups, local organisations and are helping to act as advocates for the installation of 1 gigabit architecture. Life has changed dramatically since 2011 in Kansas City. And now in Ireland, in May 2015, SIRO was launched to deliver a 100% fibre optic broadband network with speeds of 1 Gigabit for the first time to communities all over Ireland. SIRO fibre will be delivered using the ESB’s existing overhead and underground infrastructure. We are learning from other Gigabit networks from all over the world. It’s exciting. But what the communities and entrepreneurs think of doing once SIRO is up and running is going to be even more exciting.

Explore the SIRO tent at the 2016 National Ploughing Championships and try our Oculus Rift, interactive Speed Test and discover the amazing benefits of SIRO.

The 85th National Ploughing Championships is taking place in Screggan, Tullamore, co. Offaly from September 20th - 22nd 2016. The National Ploughing Championships is Europe’s largest outdoor exhibition and agricultural trade show. Last year in Ratheniska the event saw the most successful championships with 281,000 attendees and over 1,500 delighted exhibitors. This will be SIRO's second year at the National Ploughing Championships, last year SIRO had just launched it's first SIRO powered town in Ratheniska and one year later the town is now famous for one of the fastest broadband speeds in the world. Our special SIRO tent will have a black sky which twinkles and you can even light the sky yourself by tweeting @SIROIreland or #poweredbylight Here is a sneak peek at this years tent: And if you fancy a real night under the stars, you can enter our competition in the SIRO tent for your chance to win a magical stay at the Finn Lough bubble dome. We'll also have a fun fibre spacing competition where our SIRO splicer Martin who will be doing a ‘Beat the Expert’ game. If you think you can you beat the experts at fusing fibre optic cables together, then come and show us your skills in the SIRO tent. Check out the 2016 ESB tent: It’s an exciting time in agriculture with Irish farmers, SMEs and local industry at the forefront of feeding a growing global population. To meet this challenge,the agri industry needs to drive higher yields, better productivity and a greater marriage between traditional farming methods and cutting-edge technology. However, the new farming applications and smart agriculture that will fuel this growth requires better connectivity. That’s one of the reasons why ESB and Vodafone created SIRO – the greatest single advance in connectivity since the electrification of rural Ireland. Electric Ireland are among the tents this year, check them out: This year getting to the Championships will be easier than ever with the introduction of the NPA piloting a park n ride system for Dublin traffic. The service will be complimentary and operate frequently each way throughout the 3 days giving visitors the added benefit of a drop off point within a few hundred metres of exhibition arena. Bus Éireann will also operate a shuttle service from the Tullamore train station for the short (5 km) trip to the Screggan site over the days from Tuesday 20th to Thursday 22nd of September. Horse Racing Ireland are also at the event. Check out the video below for a sneak peek: Come join us in the festivities! For more updates and attractions check out our Twitter with all of the event news.    

Over the last decade many towns and villages in West Cork, and across Ireland, have been hurt badly by the recession and emigration. Young people move to the cities for work and to launch business ideas.

Bright ideas and minds are lost. Not to mention the effect on the social community, the GAA Clubs and life in rural Ireland. But one village is the first to buck the trend. And in more ways than one. This year we saw the two brother rowers from Skibbereen show the world that they can compete and win big in the Olympics. The drive and positivity of the two O’Donovan brothers were seen as a tonic for the nation and rural Ireland. One other tonic which is already up and transforming Skibbereen and its surrounding area is that of SIRO. Around the same time as the start of the Olympics, SIRO came to Skibbereen in the form of The Ludgate Hub: a 1 Gigabit digital hub for entrepreneurs and businesses that is helping to launch a new digital age for West Cork. Just as the brothers took on the world, the workers and business launchers of the Ludgate Hub are now taking on the world. With the fastest broadband speeds in not only the country but on par with that in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Skibbereen is no longer lagging behind. The Ludgate Hub, originally a cinema in 1941, is now a 10,000 square foot digital hub which is creating a new entrepreneurial eco-system in West Cork. There are now over 30 people working hard and fast in the Ludgate Hub. And it is seeking to create 500 jobs in the next 5 years, with a multi-million euro boost to the local economy. But it’s not just about the jobs it brings. The hub is also helping to bring home Irish emgrants such as David Carroll, a Skibbereen native who returned from Marbella with his wife and two children. Having guaranteed broadband speeds that are assured for decades to come is also attracting non-Irish natives from all over the world. Jane and Evan Sims have now moved all the way to Skibbereen from Chicago; and Christopher Mason has come from the Hollywood land of Los Angeles to this new kind of big screen magic: The Ludgate Hub. But it’s not just about the jobs it brings. James Long relocated his company, Our Valiance, from Silicon Valley to Skibbereen for a more balanced lifestyle. All made possible by SIRO connectivity in the Ludgate Hub. As Sean Atkinson, CEO of SIRO summarised the effects of SIRO on a rural community such as Skibbereen: “The launch of the Ludgate Hub is the moment that life in Skibbereen changes forever as it opens up a new world of possibilities. We have already seen people and businesses relocating to Skibbereen from places like Barcelona and Chicago in anticipation of the launch, which just goes to show how important 100% fibre optic broadband technology is in attracting investment in rural Ireland." [quote author="Sean Atkinson" position="CEO, SIRO" image="1053"] As a Gigabit town, Skibbereen’s young people have the potential to create the next Google or Facebook right here rather than having to move to urban areas to fulfil their ambition.[/quote] Skibbereen is simply a microcosm of the transformative effect that SIRO can have in small towns and on a national basis. SIRO allows all sorts of businesses to compete on a level playing field nationally and internationally. Businesses can develop e-commerce platforms and sell to the world. Students can access international educational opportunities. And farmers can engage with international specialists and learn new methods. The tide is turning. And Skibbereen is rowing for victory. Once again.

This was the night that changed rural Ireland forever. A night that’s going to be seen, and felt, again in towns and villages all over Ireland with the introduction of SIRO and the world’s fastest broadband speeds, see how Ireland's moment unfolded in our video.

But first, let’s go back to 1947. It was a cold windy evening with patches of snow. The light was fading as a storm was brewing in Oldtown, the small but very excited village in North County Dublin. Something extraordinary was about to happen. January 15th, 1947, was a date and a moment that was soon to be remembered forever. The small village hall of Oldtown was packed with local people of all sorts, young and old. Up on the stage sat a group of leading citizens, the parish priest and senior ESB officials. The occasion for such a gathering? It was all set to be the switching on of electricity for the first time under the new Rural Electrification scheme. But there was a snag of which the audience were literally kept in the dark about. The severe winter weather had caused a fault in the supply line, and while the speeches commenced an ESB line crew were working frantically in the pitch darkness over a mile away to put things right, to bring the light. At the back of the stage was a large switch of which all eyes awaited. When flicked it was due to illuminate the entire hall and the village itself. The clock showed eight, the time for the ‘Switch On’. The Engineer-in-Charge, W.F.Roe, began his speech with his own eyes kept on a small gramophone on the table next to him. The gramophone sat there silently, still awaiting its first jolt of electricity. Anxiety began to rise in the hall, when all of a sudden, the little gramophone turntable started to rotate. The needle dropped onto the record. And the legend has it that a relieved Engineer-in Charge, W.F.Roe, concluded his speech to the flowing sounds of “Cockles and mussels, Alive, Alive – O!” The hall and village itself lit up and came alive. The electricity had arrived. And now, from one life-changing moment to another: Modern Ireland may have arrived back in 1947 on January 15th but it is the future of Ireland that is now tingling its way through ESB lines up and down rural Ireland. The digital age is about to transform regional Ireland once more. The age of unlimited possibilities, of unlimited education opportunities, of businesses, schools and hospitals being lit up with the best and fastest technology known to the world. These life-changing moments are on their way thanks to the moment ESB and Vodafone joined forces. Like the people in Oldtown that night, there are teams of people working hard and fast to bring the fastest broadband speeds of not only Ireland but of the world to villages all over Ireland. To bring broadband at the speed of light to the people of Ireland. By using today’s ESB nationwide network, SIRO is transforming the old copper connections into 100% fibre optic cables. And with them, comes one of the world’s fastest broadband networks, at the flick of a switch.

Digiweb Launches 1 Gigabit Broadband Service In Partnership With SIRO

SIRO, the open-access wholesale broadband provider delivering Ireland’s first 100% fibre-optic broadband network to 50 towns nationwide, has announced that Digiweb has become its second retail partner. Digiweb will now launch a number of 100% fibre optic broadband packages for both residential and business customers, with speeds ranging from 150 Megabits per second (Mbps) to one Gigabit per second (Gbps), with pricing from as little as €45 per month. Digiweb’s “Electric Broadband” services will go live in Dundalk, Letterkenny and Drogheda during 2016, before Digiweb increases its availability across the country as SIRO’s rollout continues. SIRO’s differentiator is that it is a 100% fibre-optic internet connection, making it better than any other broadband infrastructure in Ireland, with no copper connection at any point in the network. SIRO’s Gigabit connectivity, is three times as powerful as the market leading service in Dublin and 10 times as powerful as the market leading service in rural Ireland. The 100% fibre-optic broadband network is already helping to reverse the digital divide in rural areas, with the recent launch of the Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen illustrating the impact of Gigabit connectivity. The roll out of SIRO will help to boost Ireland’s rural economy facilitating reliable services like remote working and will foster and maintain a strong local startup community. Skibbereen, with its recently launched Ludgate Hub, is one such town that has seen the impact of strong connectivity, which will bring the same level of connectivity as leading international business hubs like Hong Kong and Tokyo. Commenting about the partnership with Digiweb, Sean Atkinson, Chief Executive of SIRO, said: “Our partnership with Digiweb illustrates how SIRO is driving competition in Ireland’s broadband marketplace. Our network is better than the alternatives as it is powered entirely by light, future-proofing the country’s broadband needs for decades. Our ambition is to become the new national telecoms infrastructure. We want to migrate Ireland from legacy copper based networks to 100% fibre-optic networks, this will ensure that people across the country can avail of next generation services and drive the economy forward.” Declan Campbell, Managing Director of Digiweb, added: “This is a different kind of internet and we are delighted to be offering our customers the choice. It will be great to be able to offer our customers SIRO powered broadband packages of up to 1Gbps, enabling us to deliver one of the most powerful broadband services available in Ireland. On a number of levels the introduction of this service will differentiate us from most of the competition. With the quality of service and support Digiweb offer our customer base, this product will set us apart from the market. As one of the first broadband retailers to offer services on the SIRO network, this is the latest milestone as part of our strategy of delivering the best broadband experience in the country.” Customers interested in availing of Digiweb’s SIRO powered products should log onto www.digiweb.ie.

SIRO Sponsors Excellence in E-commerce Awards

In April, SIRO announced that construction of our network in Letterkenny was underway, future-proofing the town for the range of demands that customers have now and into the future. As a small thank you to the people of Letterkenny, we are delighted to be part of the 2016 Letterkenny Business Awards, organised by the Donegal News and Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce. The awards aim to celebrate local business dedication, commitment and success and in particular those who show initiative, business acumen and a great determination to grow the local economy. SIRO are sponsoring the ‘Excellence in E-Commerce Award’ which is seeking applications from businesses that sell online. The recipient will have demonstrated how they have grown their sales through e-commerce and how their e-commerce website has become an important sales tool. The Gala Awards Night will take place in the Mount Errigal Hotel on Friday 11th November. Closing date for entries is Friday 2nd September. Enter here. By entering you can raise your profile, prove your excellence, acknowledge your team efforts and impress partners and clients.

Today with Sean O'Rourke Interview

The Ludgate Hub was officially opened by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O'Connor on Friday. Brian O'Connell spoke to Grainne Dwyer, Ludgate and our Corporate Affairs Director, Stephen O'Connor. Have a listen to the interview below. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276475174" <params="color=00cc11&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

SIRO can confirm it has been shortlisted as part of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) tender process by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR.) As one of the shortlisted candidates we look forward to participating in the dialogue phase with DCENR. Using the existing ESB infrastructure, which connects every home in the country, SIRO is building a 100% fibre optic broadband network delivering 1,000Mbps (1 Gigabit) in 50 regional Irish towns. SIRO’s ambition is to extend this network, as part of the Government’s National Broadband Plan, to deliver a Gigabit society in Ireland and reverse the digital divide in rural areas. A 100% fibre network caters for current broadband demands and is also easily scalable (e.g to 10 Gbps) to meet future consumer and business needs. This scalability is a key requirement of the NBP. SIRO is an open access network which means customers will get best in class broadband and also greater choice of services delivered by multiple retailers. SIRO’s shareholders both have a proud record of infrastructural investment and delivery in Ireland.