INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR: From transmitting a Snow Patrol gig live to creating the next-generation communications infrastructure Exemplar, Intune is pushing the boundaries of bandwidth
THE AMOUNT OF data on the internet is huge and is doubling every 11 months. This is causing severe bottlenecks, particularly in areas where major events such as the Olympics or the World Cup are being held. Irish company Intune Networks has come up with an answer to this issue: it has developed advanced optical networking products that give carriers and internet service providers the capacity to meet growing demands for bandwidth.
Founders John Dunne and Tom Farrell say their offering is commercial and scalable. It allows network operators to dynamically deliver bandwidth to where it is needed, whenever it is needed. So, if there is a sudden surge in demand in east London during the Olympics, the network capacity can be ramped up instantly to deal with it.
Current network infrastructure is largely based on the traditional voice telephony carrier network and is not designed to cope with a massive increase in unpredictable traffic demand. Its architecture is static, circuit-based, hub-and-spoke and deployed on a “best guess” basis. Scalability is limited and capacity is pre-configured and stranded, so the network struggles to cope with sudden and transient traffic demands.
Operators can build in overcapacity to cater for such eventualities – but this compromises profitability and is unsustainable in the longer term.
Most solutions perpetuate the existing architectures, which cannot meet the requirements of dynamic networks. They address the symptoms rather than the causes of the problem.
Intune Networks’ solution is the world’s first “whole network virtualisation” platform. This programmable network can be reshaped at any time under the direction of the network operator, or its customers. The result is a self-service provisioning model that supports multiple business and service models.
Intune’s solution allows network operators to deploy new services in real time with carrier-class reliability and guaranteed quality of experience.
The technology also has environmental benefits. Telecomms companies consume a significant amount of energy, but Intune’s technology can reduce the figure by 50 to 70 per cent.
The Government has recognised Intune’s capability in this area and has chosen the company to build Ireland’s Exemplar Network, a fibre-optic communications network using patented technology that allows for the high-speed and high-quality transfer of electronic data. More than 30 companies and institutions have signed up to use the Exemplar testbed, including BT, Imagine, EMC, UCC Tyndall, NUI Galway, UCD and DCU. The Government has invested €10 million in funding the building of the Exemplar Network using Intune’s technology.
The company has 130 employees at its headquarters in Dublin and its research and development centre in Belfast, which is developing key subsystems for this new product line. The technology has been validated by top communications carriers and is undergoing field trials for cloud computing as part of a European project led by Telefonica. Intune gave the first demonstration of its technology at the Other Voices Festival in 2009 when it built a fibre optic ring around Dingle to transmit a Snow Patrol performance live. Last year, it expanded the transmission to a number of venues for the event.
It is also attracting significant levels of investment and it raised €29 million in venture capital last year.
In the next five years, Intune aims to establish its business in Europe, North America, India and Africa, and to have created thousands of jobs in the process.