22 Dec 2020

2020, a year in review

2020 was a challenging year for all of us as we navigated a global pandemic and had to adjust to the ‘new normal’ of remote working. This year, at BSO, we focused on what we do best: provide you with bespoke, state-of-the-art infrastructure and connectivity solutions, incomparable speed, and unmatched service.

We want to thank you for the continued trust you have put in us to deliver your mission-critical data services and for making our growth journey possible. Both now and in the future, we are committed to continuously improving our products and solutions and delivering the customer service you have come to expect from us.

As we enter an unusual Christmas and New Year’s period, we want to take this opportunity to wish you a peaceful and happy end of the year and hope that everyone stays safe and well during this holiday season.

We have exciting plans for 2021 and look forward to continuing our relationship – serving your network, cloud and connectivity requirements.

Company highlights:


News and announcements

With our mantra that “fast today, is not fast enough tomorrow” we continued to enhance and expand our global network, for example, our new RF network in Toronto. Some of our developments were featured in the Wall Street Journal and Waters Technology (subscription required).

Our expertise in highly-regulated financial markets allowed us to support major institutional players in the digital asset space such as CryptoStruct. We engineered a robust, bespoke and unique cloud connectivity solution using our low latency backbone for their mission-critical operations.

Earlier this year, we strengthened our position in LATAM’s vibrant economy by combining forces with two of the major players in the region and demonstrating our extensive experience in emerging market connectivity.

We also broadened our on-demand Cloud Connect offering by providing new secure and dedicated connectivity to Alibaba Cloud and Oracle Cloud – increasing our number of on-ramps worldwide and paths to the public cloud.

Coupled with the BSO Cloud and Managed Services solution, we have become a trusted partner for any IT infrastructure as Thomas Lanaute, Sales Director for Europe, outlined earlier this year in Dot Magazine.

Virtual events and webinars

This year was a busy year for BSO as we shifted our event engagement online. Our CEO Michael Ourabah spoke about capital markets technology at this year’s DX Connect event next to thought leaders from ING, JP Morgan and HSBC: “How do you drive renewed innovation in capital markets?”

Our experts shared insights on the future of cloud with some of our key partners: “Fintech and cloud adoption in the age of Covid-19” with AWS, “Cloud agility, scalability and resilience” with Oracle and “Capital markets infrastructure” with PwC.

We invited the CEO of Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) to discuss the increasing importance of Dubai in international capital markets.

Our experts shared insights on the future of cloud with some of our key partners: “Fintech and cloud adoption in the age of Covid-19” with AWS, “Cloud agility, scalability and resilience” with Oracle and “Capital markets infrastructure” with PwC.

We invited the CEO of Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) to discuss the increasing importance of Dubai in international capital markets.

Awards and nominations

We are humbled that BSO has been awarded ‘Connectivity Provider of the Year’ at the FOW | Global Investor Group’s International Awards 2020. 

In September, BSO was nominated at the Global Carrier Awards for Best Americas Project highlighting how we provide seamless connectivity and access to one of the world’s most diverse regions.

We are delighted to share that we have been nominated in the category of ‘Best High Performance Network Services’ and ‘Best Cloud Based Trading Data Management Solution’.

We would appreciate your support – it only takes a few minutes. Please vote for us here.

Team, culture and diversity

From a people’s perspective, BSO made some strategic hires and moves: Tony Jones was appointed ‘Head of Low Latency Fibre’, a new position at BSO to focus on the optimisation of our low latency network. Anna Flach, joined as Global Marketing Director, bringing a wealth of expertise in financial services and technology to support our growth ambitions. Matthew Lempriere has returned to the UK from Asia to continue to run the UK, Middle East and APAC sales and Judith Perez Monasterio rejoined as Account Director after a stint at Pico.

Finally, the past year was not all about business but also about paying it forward. In an interview for Capacity Media, our CEO, Michael Ourabah, explained how much diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA. In October, BSO ran a fundraising campaign to support the UK’s biggest breast cancer charity, Breast Cancer Now.

And of course, we ran virtual quizzes, had watercooler moments on Zoom and said “Sorry, I was on mute” far too many times!

Stay safe and see you in 2021.

ABOUT BSO

The company was founded in 2004 and serves the world’s largest financial institutions. BSO is a global pioneering infrastructure and connectivity provider, helping over 600 data-intensive businesses across diverse markets, including financial services, technology, energy, e-commerce, media and others. BSO owns and provides mission-critical infrastructure, including network connectivity, cloud solutions, managed services and hosting, that are specific and dedicated to each customer served.

The company’s network comprises 240+ PoPs across 33 markets, 50+ cloud on-ramps, is integrated with all major public cloud providers and connects to 75+ on-net internet exchanges and 30+ stock exchanges. The team of experts works closely with customers in order to create solutions that meet the detailed and specific needs of their business, providing the latency, resilience and security they need regardless of location.

BSO is headquartered in Ireland, and has 11 offices across the globe, including London, New York, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Access our website and find out more information: www.bso.co