Glide Group partners with The Jointworks

Glide Group, a player in the broadband and utilities sector, has today announced its collaboration with co-working and events space, The Jointworks, located in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Glide has connected The Jointworks to its existing fibre infrastructure, delivering a fibre to the premises (FTTP) service scalable to 10 G/bits for future technologies.

Opening in July 2022, the co-working space has supported the hybrid working efforts of the city’s business community, and in partnership with Glide, has been able to provide users with office-wide pervasive Wi-Fi technology, enabling seamless working from any area within the flexible workspace.

Tenants of the co-working space – which houses over 70 hot desks and a range of meeting rooms – have been provided with instant access to Glide’s multi-gigabit fibre broadband with their own individual network. These features provide tenants of The Jointworks with flexibility and security. Importantly, commercial tenants can seamlessly and effectively scale their operations, irrespective of their size or nature.

This collaboration comes as demand for co-working spaces has skyrocketed in recent years, with Birmingham being no exception to this. Changing work habits, along with the rise in data-intensive activities such as e-learning and the use of streaming services, have put significant strain on the city’s existing network provisions.

Committed to further supporting Birmingham’s commercial, residential and educational facilities, the collaboration is part of Glide’s larger “fibre city” project, which is set to enhance Birmingham’s network infrastructure, ensuring its resilience and flexibility. Supporting Glide’s 541 Birmingham customers through the installation of dark fibre, the project will enhance network provisions and ensure they’re resilient enough to respond to modern demands.

Andy Hartwell, CEO of The Jointworks, said: “We struggled with the internet previously in the Jewellery Quarter. Traditionally, it was difficult to get internet lines in. Glide, however, was able to provide us with a multi-gigabit connection which is perfect because we have video production companies coming in moving massive files around and design agencies moving big files. It is never an issue and never gets flagged that the internet connection is a problem.”

Sean Lowry, CTO, Glide added: “Our collaboration with Jointworks is testament to our commitment to enhancing Birmingham’s network infrastructure, and supporting the city as its requirements grow. It is key for us to support the key players to Birmingham’s regional economy, and the needs of its businesses and educational hubs were at the forefront of this collaboration with The Jointworks.

“It is clear that the co-working spaces of the future need to further incorporate the modern demands of today’s employment models and Glide Group is excited to be pioneering this new generation of these spaces within the Midlands region.”