Interoute's fibre network is supporting the launch of The Vatican Communications Secretariat’s new online portal www.vaticannews.va. The portal incorporates many different communication channels (radio, TV and publishing) into a single interface, supporting the Church's mission to address the current digital environment.
The digital site allows users to easily search for information, providing them with multimedia, multi-device and multilingual content. Francesco Masci, Head of the Technology Department of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See, said, "The rethinking of the Holy See's communication system meant an important technological shift as the worlds of web, broadcasting and publishing merge. Alongside the portal we will launch other services, and we are also considering further projects to distribute quality multimedia content directly to users, such as documentaries or other important productions. Interoute's new fibre network is the infrastructure basis for enabling this cutting-edge project.”
Direct access to Interoute’s digital backbone, with its fibre optic infrastructure is a fundamental step in the realisation of this ambitious project, which is why the Vatican team named the overall project, ‘Backbone’. Interoute owns and operates a global private network encompassing 72,000 route kilometres of fibre across Europe. The optical fibre provided by Interoute is key to supporting the digital transformation of the Vatican’s communications strategy, as it provides secure, scalable and high-performance capacity. Ensuring a high quality experience for consumers of the Vatican’s content, especially bandwidth intensive audio-visual content, the fibre optic network from Interoute enables faster and smoother data transmission as well as high resilience across long distances.
The project was characterised by close collaboration between the Secretariat and Interoute, aimed at finding the best solutions under stringent circumstances. The project included laying network cables in one of the world’s most religious, culturally and artistically important sites, the Vatican City.
Gareth Williams, CEO of Interoute, commented, "We are honoured to support the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See with our decades of experience. Interoute has built the pan-European backbone infrastructure which powers the digital transformation of global organisations. From our experience building and managing one of Europe’s largest networks, Interoute has gained the knowledge and competence to support this unique project, respecting delivery times and the constraints imposed by the cultural and artistic heritage of this important site."
