nLighten partner case study
POWERING THE UK'S NEXT GENERATION OF EDGE DATA CENTRES
nLighten operates a growing network of carrier-neutral edge data centres across the UK, designed to bring compute, storage and connectivity closer to end users.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve partnered to strengthen that edge, investing in national backhaul and high-capacity connectivity that makes it easier for customers to move in, scale up and stay resilient.
The Challenge
MAKING IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO MOVE TO THE EDGE
nLighten had a strong proposition: regional edge data centres designed for modern, latency-sensitive workloads such as cloud services, real-time applications and AI. But they understood a critical truth: customers won’t move unless connectivity is simple, resilient and fast to deliver.
Their ambition was straightforward to describe but complex to deliver: Make changing data centre provider feel easy.
That meant removing technical friction, reducing delivery delays and ensuring backhaul, resilience and cloud access would simply work — whether customers needed 10G today or 100G tomorrow.
To achieve this, nLighten needed a partner with national scale, strong engineering capability and a proven track record of delivering complex builds first time.
The Solution
BUILDING A FASTER, SMARTER EDGE NETWORK TOGEHTER
After more than a year of close collaboration, we committed to a significant infrastructure investment across all nLighten UK data centres.
Each site is being made 400G capable, with 10G and 100G services delivered faster and at more competitive price points through pre-provisioned capacity enabled by Project Spark.
Customers integrating or interconnecting at nLighten sites gain direct access to our national network, built-in diversity and cloud-ready resilience, allowing them to backhaul traffic nationally or connect directly to cloud services without complex bespoke builds.
Delivery is supported by shared governance, clear milestone visibility and a shared service wrap to keep deployment predictable and on track.
Industry insight
DATA SOVEREIGNTY BY DESIGN
With increasing focus on data sovereignty, many organisations need confidence that data remains within national jurisdiction. As leading UK operators, nLighten and Virgin Media O2 are well positioned to support data processing in line with UK standards — an important consideration for regulated and data-sensitive customers.
The results
READY FOR GROWTH, DELIVERING VALUE SOONER
Deployment began in summer 2025 and will complete in early 2026, with the busiest UK sites prioritised first.
Even while rollout is still underway, the impact is already clear:
- Around 30% faster delivery times compared with previous connectivity orders
- 100G services available at price points previously associated with 10G
Greater predictability, resilience and scalability for customers moving into edge locations
This gives nLighten a stronger proposition for every customer, while providing end users with the freedom to run low-latency workloads wherever they need them.
30% faster delivery
Compared with previous connectivity orders, improving OPEX and speeding up customer onboarding.
Our experience with Virgin Media Business Wholesale has been consistently strong, so extending that partnership to support our customers felt like a natural step. Their team brings a rare mix of dependable delivery, clear communication and genuine care for the end customer.
Together, we’re creating something that makes life easier for every organisation moving into our data centres — and that’s exactly the kind of partnership we value.
Justin Nesbitt, MD UK, nLighten
FIXED ON THE FUTURE. READY WHEN YOU ARE.
Project Spark is reshaping the UK network, but the real opportunity is how it can support your customers and your growth.
Our UK network has never been stronger – more power, more speed, more resilience and built to keep you moving ahead. Reach out to our team to discover what’s next.
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© Virgin Media Business Ltd