Burke Shipping has signed a deal with Voice & Data Solutions and Colt Telecom, for the provision of a high-speed fibre optic solution to their three main sites in Dublin Port.
Under the terms of the contract, Voice & Data Solutions, in conjunction with Colt Telecom and Airspeed Telecom, will deliver high-speed fibre optic cable broadband services and a licensed radio internet connection to Burke Shipping at its three main Dublin Port offices over a 10-year period.
Syd Harman, Director with Voice & Data Solutions, said: “As far as we know, this is the first project of its kind in Ireland.
There were some major infrastructural challenges at Dublin Port. Fibre wasn’t available from any of the major carriers as there was no available ducting in the port. Concrete roads, railway lines and high volumes of heavy goods traffic would have made digging and installing ducting very difficult, as well as costly and disruptive.
Voice & Data Solutions provided Burke Shipping with an innovative and cost-effective solution that used the existing infrastructure of sewage and storm drains to install the required 1.25 km of specialised fibre optic cabling.”
Burke Shipping is now accessing future-proofed GB Ethernet connections between its three main Dublin Port offices and high-speed fibre internet connections, providing them with the ability to connect any level of bandwidth to anywhere within Ireland or throughout the world.
Gerard O’Callaghan, Group IT Manager, Burke Shipping, added: “Because of the growing volume of our daily operations, faster broadband and a more reliable and efficient IT infrastructure was essential. We use state-of-the-art IT systems installed at our main sites in Dublin Port. Given the nature of our business, these critical systems require constant uptime. Voice & Data Solutions has provided us with the infrastructure we need to achieve this, not to mention providing us with peace of mind, knowing that all our critical IT systems are backed up and always available. Without that disaster recovery and back up, any down time could cost us anywhere in the region of €100K per day. We were also very impressed with the creative and very cost-effective solution they provided in getting the cable to our site offices in Dublin Port.”
Pictured below is Syd Harman, Voice & Data Solutions, with Gerard O’Callaghan, Burke Shipping.

