CityFibre and City of York bag NextGen award nominations

CityFibre's partnership with City of York Council to develop next-generation fibre optic broadband infrastructure has been shortlisted for the 2012 NextGen Challenge Awards.

The collaboration, which has seen the city integrate its administration, health, libraries and education networks on to a single metropolitan fibre ring, has made it into the top five of the Collaborative Advantage category.

Not only has the project saved money for the council and transformed service delivery, but it has also created the backbone for a citywide fibre-to-the-home network.

Last year, CityFibre built a 103 km fibre optic ring around York that has already connected more than 100 sites, including local council buildings, schools and York NHS.

Discussing the collaboration, City of York Council leader James Alexander said: "We want York to become a template for the type of citywide fibre networks that are so badly needed by the UK's towns and cities."

The award winners are set to be announced on October 8th as part of the NextGen12 conference in Westminster.