LONDON, UK: BATM (LSE: BVC), a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems, announced that CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent carrier-neutral Full Fibre platform, has selected BATM’s Edgility virtual networking and edge compute solution. Following extensive lab testing, CityFibre will now be piloting the Edgility platform with selected partners ahead of an expected national deployment to provide virtualised network services for businesses.

CityFibre builds and operates high quality Full Fibre digital infrastructure that enables wholesale customers to provide broadband, ethernet and 5G services.

It serves over 1,500 business and consumer service provider partners. CityFibre recently completed one of Europe’s largest ever Full Fibre financings with a £4.9 billion debt raise for a programme to bring Full Fibre infrastructure to up to 8 million premises, covering a third of the UK market, spanning 285 cities, towns and locations by 2025. Network construction is currently underway in over 60 cities with services live in more than 45 locations.

By adopting a virtual network solution, CityFibre will be able to efficiently deploy, manage and operate hundreds of thousands of physical edge devices and virtualised value-added services from one central location without the need for on-site technical personnel.

CityFibre expects to achieve a significant carbon emissions reduction as well as a 60% lower total cost of ownership compared with existing solutions over a four-year period. Edgility has a vendor-neutral and open architecture, which gives CityFibre the flexibility to deploy software solutions and utilise white-box appliances from any vendor. In addition, a virtualised network combined with a vendor-neutral architecture is particularly beneficial given today’s global supply chain challenges.

The Edgility suite is comprised of two components: Edgility OS, a high-performance and small footprint virtual operating system, and Edgility Central, a cloud-based Management and Orchestration system. The pilot phase of the project is to test onboarding and in-life journeys for CityFibre’s partners and their customers ahead of an expected national deployment.

Dr. Zvi Marom, CEO of BATM, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with CityFibre to support the delivery of their virtualised network vision. The selection of Edgility by such a significant telecoms company is a fantastic validation of our best-in-class technology, which we expect will lead to further interest from other businesses. Following successful completion of the pilot, we look forward to working with them to deploy a virtualised network across their national infrastructure to enable them and their partners to enjoy the full benefits of edge compute technology.”    

David Tomalin, Group CTO of CityFibre, added: “This is another important step towards our ambitious vision for a fully virtualised network. BATM’s carrier-grade networking expertise and management of virtualised edge devices at scale makes them an ideal innovation partner. The Edgility Suite will enable us to efficiently manage vast numbers of physical edge devices from a centralised location while providing greater control over costs, choice of virtualised service vendor and reducing waste and CO2 emissions.”