Perhaps now is a good time to say that a Telehouse in Derry is a really bad idea.....

Okay, best to read this post in this order. First of all take five minutes to read the BBC report.

Done? Right..... and I quote.....

The Fort George site has been earmarked as the location for Project Kelvin, but more than half the site is contaminated with heavy metals.

So perhaps this is not the best place for it after all. Who's paying the £6m for the potential clean up by the way?

Project Kelvin is a telecommunications initiative - which is expected to bring major benefits to the local economy.

An unmanned station controlled from Dublin will not bring major benefits to the local economy. I do wish people will stop fooling themselves on this one. All that happens is that data comes in and out just a little bit faster (not that much mind).

The telehouse will be the point were a transatlantic cable will link to the Northern Ireland telecoms network.

It's actually hitting land at Portrush so it's always made sense to put the Telehouse there. Suffice to say that there's probably someone somewhere with a vested interest to make sure the Telehouse is in Derry to secure contracts and the like. I wonder how long it takes to get the data from Portrush to Derry?

Here's my argument. £6million to clean up could be £6m used for job creation. How about an incubation unit (not Noribic, another one run so other people know about it). Perhaps a bit into creating a sustainable digital economy in Derry and the North West. It's not a lot to ask. There is one question that I am going to ask and I'm pleading for a level headed answer. How is a telehouse in Derry create jobs when the facts are laid before us.... it's an unmanned station.

I would like answers...... and good ones at that. Over to you Derry City Council.

Project Kelvin headline hotspots. The cable finally arrives (in Portrush).

The headlines are flooded with Project Kelvin news, the line is finally coming ashore....

The BBC here, Silicon Republic here and the Belfast Telegraph here. Both Silicon Republic and the Belfast Tele gave the main point of the headlines.... the line comes in at Portrush, not Derry.

I'm just waiting for the Derry Journal headlines to come along now. All the promised jobs to Derry, the Telehouse planning fiasco, the DETI knowing that Derry would complain, will it all be finally over?

My brain was kicked into gear last night (Sunday) while out for a drive around the coast. Pulled up at Portrush Strand and there was the big billboard, closed off part of the car park and a dredger out to sea. Sort of gave it away when the big map diagram showed a big fat blue line coming in to Portrush. My only initial thoughts were, "I wonder if the Derry Journal have seen this?".

But my liege, we know not where to put the portakabin....

Derry's Telehouse still doesn't have a defined location.

More of the story in the Sentinel here.

More Project Kelvin stories and hilarities.

I nearly choked on my ham sandwich....

You'd think that after all the uproar, politicising and general tomfoolery that surrounded the Derry press offices and political folk in the Foyle region; once you get your own way you back off and silenty enjoy your win. No.

The Sentinel today basically brought to light that the whole thing is a storm in a teacup with two wonderful stories.

A BEWILDERED Hibernia Atlantic representative struggled to get his head around the uproar surrounding the divisive location of the Project Kelvin telehouse - an unmanned portable container - during a lengthy public row over the facility in February.

There's quite a few of us who are still struggling. Telehouse is a shed, portacabin.... unmanned. I've said this over quite a few blog posts and once again it's come up in the headlines. The whole thing is obviously becoming a bit of a laugh back in the States.

Not just one story, oh no! Two... The main snippet of interest is here though:
"We cannot bring a cable into Lough Foyle, because the border line under the sea there is actually disputed. We will not get into that level of consultation and negotiation to try to solve that issue, so we chose Portrush," Mr Bullock told the Committee.
The Hibernia chief was asked if the original Project Kelvin specification envisaged that the firm would tap into the transatlantic line and bring it down Lough Foyle into Londonderry.
He replied: "That is technically impossible. Lough Foyle is a disputed border region, and, as I said, we cannot put submarine cables near disputed border regions."
However, it seems that even if agreement was reached by Dublin and London and the Irish Government abandoned all thoughts of a "water grab" in Lough Foyle, it still would not be feasible to run the cable up the river to a telehouse.
"That would presume that all the land borders were agreed, that all environmental parties agreed to the laying of the cable, and that all ships agreed to stop dredging in Lough Foyle, which given that dredging at the mouth of the Foyle is necessary to remove the silt would not happen, and a cable would go out of service every three days," Mr Bullock told the committee.

Foyle and it's border problem seem to be what originally swayed Hibernia to go to Portrush (and Barry's is there obviously). Essentially it still doesn't really matter where the line comes in, Hibernia are trying to do it efficiently as possible to just get on with the job.

It's just fun watching the Derry press make a huge 60ft molehill of a story out of very little.

Nothing to see here, can we all move on now.

Project Kelvin is underway, on the go and coming to a town near you.... no scrub that..... Derry.

Well it's on the go, Hibernia have started on Project Kelvin. The transatlantic cable will come into Derry and, well you know the rest. Who gets to man the shed is still a mystery.

Original press release came from Light Reading Europe.

Telehouse fears allayed!

Whoohoo! Jump for joy and let's organise a street party. Points for those who care to read....

• Hibernia say everything is all okay, nothing to see here, no need to panic.
• Mark Durcan is wondering where Arlene Foster has vanished to in the last few months.
• Derry City Council table a motion expressing concern about Hibernia's lack of progress to find a site for "telehouse".

I can just see it now... Telehouse, Derry.


I'm highly dubious about a Telehouse bring a new wave of technology startups to Derry. The council should really be looking to the likes of new wave of meet ups like Open Coffee Derry and engaging with the people of the city. The whole project kelvin has turned into a spin story fuelled by the media and ignored by the people.

Photo by naturenet.net

Telehouse in Derry, what Telehouse?

We're back with Project Kelvin stories: it's been a while but this one sort of made me chuckle and whince at the same time.

"It's emerged that three planning applications connected to the Project Kelvin development have already been lodged - yet none of them relate to the building of a 'Telehouse' in Derry."

As mentioned by the Derry Journal last week. All the bruhaha, bolderdash and ballyhou in Derry (and the Executive for that matter) still shows that Hibernia already have their plans in place. And no matter how many toys you throw out of the pram it won't make a hoot of difference.

Reports from the Sentinel on 1st April mentioned that Hibernia knew of a storm regarding Kelvin and that telehouse would basically be the size a portacabin and controlled from Dublin.

From where I'm sitting it doesn't matter where the data line comes in, as long as it comes in.

The media just loves a Kelvin story.

The Derry Journal have singlehandedly made the whole Project Kelvin thing into a media driven white elephant. To be honest it's really starting to wear thin.

Today they heavily quoted from a Business Wire supplied story regarding the Capacity USA conference where the CEO of Hibernia told delegates how brilliant it was going to be to get into Northern Ireland. Oh and there might be the odd opportunity for Northern Ireland businesses as well.

It's just the usual PR machine to be honest, I didn't read the story first in the DJ, I read it from Sys-con media who did exactly the same thing and took the feed totally. It's content, it's available, we'll use it.

I still fail to see how Derry will become a major technology player in the EU when the Kelvin line will basically be monitored from Dublin (all you need is a man with a spanner and a perhaps a snorkel). If hitech decides to move to Derry then Invest NI would be the main point of contact, good luck to them. Apart from the Buncrana Road Industrial Estate, where are all these new businesses going to go?

I told you Project Kelvin would be a storm in a teacup.

Oh this made me smile this morning. It also means that I'll have to change a number of existing blog posts.... Oh well.

So what's the job impact of Project Kelvin going to Derry or Coleraine (or Limavady for that matter). Non, nothing, nada, zero, not a sausage. Why? The incoming data pipe is remotely monitored from Dublin and needed nothing more larger than a portacabin.

So all the jobs, the startups... all for nothing. Sorry, nothing to see here.

Full story in the Sentinel.

Hibernia award Project Kelvin to...........

Give you three guesses.... yup Glack.... no Derry!

I'm watching this one closely to see what the job impact/opportunties will be over the next three years. Let's hope for a wave of startups in the local area. To be honest they could setup in Derry, Coleraine or Limavady a few milliseconds here or there won't make a great deal of difference to most.

Project Kelvin: And the winner is?

Coleraine were originally awarded as the location for the site of Telehouse for the transatlantic cable, enabling high speed data communication from the States and Europe.

The Derry Journal didn't take it too well.

Then the business leaders didn't take it too well. One putting up money to start a legal case.

Then Martin got involved.

Perhaps starting with the article in The Times might be a better starting place.