A YORK company has won a prestigious data contract which could "net" it millions of pounds, the Evening Press can reveal.

York Data Services Limited is to supply high-speed gigabyte capacity Internet connections and will establish the city's first data and web hosting centre.

The contract, worth £250,000 in the first instance, could grow into the millions as York Data Services provides its high-speed facilities to IT businesses moving into the Innovation Centre at York Science Park.

York Data Services, created by the entrepreneurial management team of Dot Com Imaging and Sugarstar Limited, was formed to meet demand in the city for reliable and affordable high-speed internet connections.

Mark Fordyce, chairman of York Data Services said, "The building of the new IT centre at York Science Park gave us the perfect opportunity to house the technological infrastructure required to connect York to a high-speed, high-capacity network far superior to traditional broadband services."

Tenants moving in to the new IT Centre will automatically benefit from the high speed connectivity and bandwidth on demand through a local area network (LAN), specially designed by York Data Services, as well as from the state-of-the-art facilities, including wireless hot spots, data storage, and direct access to hosting facilities.

Companies will be able to handle data at super speeds of 2.4 gigabytes thanks to York Data Services' fibre-optic technology - far outstripping conventional high-speed connections such as broadband.

Susanne Walker, Managing Director, York Science Park (Innovation Centre) Ltd said: "We are delighted to be able to offer this high grade connectivity to companies in the IT Centre. Not only will they benefit from a high-grade, high-speed connection to the Internet, it will save them thousands because they will not have to pay for the installation of a high-quality line."

Ray Wynne, Business Advisor from Science City York, said: "This is a huge step forward and really puts York on the map as a technology centre as it is no longer limited by its communication infrastructure."

Professor Tony Robards, of the University of York and Science City York, said: "It is great to see a young York-based company leading the way so other York businesses can grow and flourish and do even better business in the future."

The IT Centre at York Science Park is scheduled for completion in July 2003.

Updated: 12:10 Tuesday, June 24, 2003