24 Mar, 10
What bandwidth really means for the Gaeltacht
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| From left: Dr Kieran Loftus, Executive Director of Operations, NUI Galway and John Boland, Chief Executive, HEAnet. |
At the end of 2009, Internet bandwidth increased by 50 times in the Gaeltacht following infrastructure rollout from AirSpeed Telecom, initiated by HEAnet and supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta. The real-world cost savings, efficiency gains and commercial opportunities the bandwidth has created are impressive.
What does it do to a region when highly contended, maxed-out Internet connectivity is suddenly replaced with ubiquitous, almost unlimited bandwidth? The Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, NUI Galway and indigenous media businesses across the West and North West of Ireland have first-hand experience. All are using the new connectivity to tackle everything from cost control targets to entry into new markets.
- Lecturers replace travelling with videoconferencing: Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, NUIG's Irish language branch, serves students across multiple campuses. It now leverages its new 100 Mb per second network to deliver mobile course lectures simultaneously to classes 200 miles apart in Carna and Gweedore. Similarly, GMIT Letterfrack is to move guest lecture series for its internationally renowned furniture design programs to videoconferencing. Both institutions are seeing videoconferencing bring significant cost savings and also the power to develop new courses and teaching techniques, including remote control of student machines during lectures to let learners follow material being presented.
- Centralised IT admin frees up lecturers: NUIG lecturers no longer lose teaching and preparation time by administering local IT systems themselves. Pupil intake and resulting funding are both increasing as a result. The high-speed network offers further financial benefit by enabling a virtualised desktop environment, which cuts support and maintenance costs, and by enabling on-site IP calling which eliminates all call costs within the NUIG network.
- High bandwidth, high profile projects centred in the West: the strong Irish linguistic and musical heritage of the region makes it a natural choice to locate projects like the new €7 million national repository for the Irish language, now that the supporting bandwidth is available. An NUIG site has applied to be home to the archive and other repositories are planned for the area, letting the West consolidate its cultural reputation with relevant new digital services.
The new local bandwidth isn't for universities only, but also businesses like TG4, Telegael and Bioniche. Many local companies are media and broadcasting firms creating programming, music and Irish language animation and have leveraged the new, affordable high-speed links to drive opportunities for collaboration and sales into Japan and the US.
"I know all of us can remember what it was like when all we had was 1Mbps and 2Mbps connections, but it's hard to imagine how we ever did without high bandwidth," said Seathrún Ó Tuairisg of Acadamh. "We can just plan things now in Connemara and take the communications for granted."
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