Interoute connects the Ask.com European research hub in Pisa to its pan European fibre optic network

Published 5th December 2008

Interoute and Tesene bring Next Generation fibre directly to Ask.com in Italy

Rome, 2nd December 2008 - Interoute, owner of Europe’s most advanced next-generation network, today announced it has completed the connection of leading search engine Ask.com’s office in Pisa, to its fibre optic backbone. Interoute partnered with Tesene, a local ISP with an innovative approach to web services, in order to complete the project.

Ask.com’s hub in Italy focuses around developing special functions to enhance the search engine, based on a unique ranking methodology, vertical search technologies and application-level features.

Located in the centre of Pisa, one of Italy’s most architecturally renowned cities, Ask.com needs high quantities of good quality bandwidth at a competitive price. While the ideal solution is a direct connection to a fibre optic backbone, its location in the historic centre, made this a tough challenge.

Interoute has laid over 4,000 km of fibre in Italy over the past 6 years, including connecting other customers in the centre of Pisa, which meant that Interoute was the ideal choice for Ask.com to turn to.

Using a solution designed to minimize delivery time and disruption to Pisa’s citizens, Interoute connected Ask.com premises to its fibre backbone. The customer can now take advantage of high quality telecommunication services that can only be found inside internet exchange points.

Mr Antonio Gulli, Ask.com’s Chief Technology Officer for UK and Europe said of the project: “The value of many new business innovations and services is shaped by the ability to extend the physical limits of the network. Finding a responsive and trusted partner is a primary need to fuel high-performance and ambitious businesses like us. Interoute was the right choice for Ask.com.”

Renzo Ravaglia, Country Manager Interoute Italia, commented “Ask.com is a very prestigious brand that we are proud to add to our list of customers. This project to bring high quality connectivity under very constrained digging conditions is a joint success of Interoute and Tesene and, thanks to the collaboration of the Pisa municipality it has now become a reality. Many telecom providers give up when having to dig inside historical town centres to reach their customers, but as we’ve proved in the past, Interoute is different.”