Pace a leading Yorkshire digital company is working with technology giant Thales on an exciting project to help provide high speed internet access to people living in South Yorkshire apartment blocks, social housing and sheltered accommodation.

Public funding for the project has been secured by a non – profit company based in Shipley called The Advanced Digital Institute. Pace’s new MultiDweller kit  will be used for the project. The technology will be connected to communial terrestial television antennae to  provide a link to a broadband network for each home . Initially two housing blocks in Rotherhan and Barnsley have been chosen for the project.

Occupants ,who are mainly elderly, will be given computers and hardware, including videophones, which can be used to contact social and health professionals and also relatives.  The success of the scheme will  be monitored in March when more funding should be available to increase availabily on a wider level.

The market for this sort of technology is enormous as there are an estimated 2.5 million households in rented social housing in the UK.

South Yorkshires superfast 25mb broadband has now gone live and will be available accross Sheffield, Rotherhan, Doncaster and Barnsley in 2010 in an investment worth £90 million.