B4RN brings High-Speed Fiber Internet to over 13,000 customers in Northern England

Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) has upgraded and expanded its network with Juniper’s core network solutions to make broadband services available to digitally underserved communities. By leveraging Juniper’s core and aggregation routing platforms, which deliver high performance and industry-leading sustainability, B4RN can deliver on superior end-user experiences.

B4RN provides advanced broadband services to more than 13,000 customers in rural homes, small villages, farms and dispersed settlements. It provides village halls, places of worship, primary schools and other community organisations free, high-speed internet. Each customer enjoys a minimum 1-Gbps symmetrical internet connection, enabling seamless streaming of entertainment, gaming, remote work and connectivity with friends and family.

For instance, children who lacked fast internet for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic now can easily do their schoolwork at home when necessary. Dairy farmers can automate milking or use digital tags to keep track of their livestock.

B4RN’s network, built using Juniper MX and ACX routing solutions, spans 2,300-square kilometers. With a scalable network that extends from Manchester to Leeds, and with plans to expand from Leeds to Newcastle, B4RN provides an exceptional customer experience as it provides a growing number of rural communities with equal access to digital services with a resilient ring structure. Due to the subterranean placement of B4RN's fiber, the service remains unaffected by the region's inclement weather, ensuring consistent availability.

The Juniper MX304 Universal Routing Platform ensures the future resilience of B4RN's core network, providing high performance, efficiency and resilience. This empowers B4RN to extend its services to a greater number of rural communities. Combining massive scale, power efficiency and a compact form factor, the MX304 router is well-suited for environments with limited space and power.

B4RN deploys Juniper ACX 7100 Cloud Metro Routers to support the implementation of their advanced 400G network in Northern England, delivering FTTH services to rural customers. The ACX7100 serves as an aggregation device in the metro/edge network, connecting rural access sites and extending 400G deeper into the network. Chosen for its high bandwidth ports, compact size and low power consumption, the ACX7100 aligns with B4RN's commitment to technological efficiency.

B4RN worked very closely with Kubus, an Elite Plus partner of Juniper, to evaluate the leading routing vendors on the market. Juniper stood out by offering the most sustainable solution, with proven performance and a highly programmable infrastructure. As an IT solution provider, Kubus advised B4RN on its technology decisions and assisted with the core network upgrade.