HOPES of bringing thousands of new jobs to York have been boosted by a £250,000 investment.

York Data Services today announced that it has installed two fibre links which connect directly to the UK’s national internet hub in London’s Docklands.

These links will bring high-speed, reliable internet connection to York Data Services’ Data Centre in York Science Park, which will then be supplied to local firms.

It means businesses and business park owners in York and North Yorkshire will have access to world-class telecom services normally associated with London companies, uploading and downloading masses of data in a fraction of the time it takes now.

The service could prove to be yet another compelling argument for the Government to consider moving civil service offices from London and the south east to York as a way of paring costs – a decision which could attract thousands of jobs to the city.

Lightning speed broadband connections with London could, for example, prove to be a clincher for luring another part of the government department, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to York. The city’s politicians want to see Defra jobs move to 100,000 sq ft of offices in Hungate, next door to the two existing Defra buildings in Peasholme Green Denise Stuart, chief executive of york-england.com, tasked with attracting new investment into York and North Yorkshire, described the investment as “a terrific boost for businesses in the York area”.

She said: “It underlines the fact that York is a city which can provide the very latest data technology to people who work here, and can now be considered one of the leading places to do business in the UK and all that means in terms of local jobs.

“This is something that the government will have to take very seriously when considering York as a possible relocation for posts in their civil service departments in London and the south east.”

Mark Fordyce, chief executive/ chairman of York Data Services, said “We are very excited to make this significant investment to our network in this current economic downturn, as it will provide more opportunities for York companies at a time when next generation Internet is becoming an important part of winning business.

“This will also allow us to introduce some groundbreaking new services, including what will be the UK’s fastest fibre optic broadband for businesses by a considerable margin which we will be announcing later in the year.” York Data Services is now one of North Yorkshire’s leading business internet services providers. It supplies fibre-based connectivity and telecoms services to York Science Park, the Hawk Creative Business Park, in Easingwold, and the Chocolate Works Development in York, as well as individual businesses across North Yorkshire.