FLESH is appearing on the bones of a futuristic drive to bring the information superhighway to homes and businesses in Leeds.
When the city council announced last month that it wanted to create an ‘intelligent city‘ with a brain made up of thousands of interlinked computers, cynics dubbed the idea a ‘superhypeway‘.
They may yet eat their words. The official launch of the initiative yesterday coincided with the two concrete developments the opening of the Planet Connect. The city’s first cyber cafe, and the signing of a technology partnership between The University of Leeds and the council. This partnership will help Leeds establish itself as the most technologically advanced city in Britain, said Professor Alan Wilson of the University. Planet Connect, in Cross Belgrave Street (Leeds), boasts 10 screens linked to the Internet, the world’s largest computer network and will allow ordinary people to ‘surf’ its resources.
Leeds now has the best fibre optical cable network anywhere in the UK, with the possible exception of London, said Graham Walker, sales and Marketing director of Wakefield-based Torch Telecom, which sponsored the opening.
Surfing the net: Tuhel Miah at the Planet Connect which opened in Leeds
Yorkshire Evening Post, 6th February 1996
Rave Reviews:
King Charles and Tuhel Miah BBC News 1996 | Tuhel in Telegraph & Argus Oct 1996 | Tuhel in Telegraph & Argus Dec 1996 | Tuhel in Telegraph & Argus Jan 1997 | Tuhel in EAST Newspaper | Tuhel in Telegraph & Argus, 24 October 1996 | Tuhel Miah in Yorkshire Evening Post 6th Feb 1996 | Tuhel Miah in Yorkshire Evening Post 5th Feb 1996