Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2011 23:27:03 GMT -5
A BROADBAND internet service provider has employed specially-trained ferrets to work on its network of fibre optic cables.
Virgin Media today revealed it had been using its team of fibre optic ferrets for a year.
And to mark the anniversary it has commissioned a photo-shoot of its talented rodent workers.
Virgin Media uses the ferrets to investigate, assess and support its underground network.
The unusual engineers not only search out the best areas to place the cable, but also wear jackets fitted with a special microchip able to analyse any breaks or damage in existing fibre optics.
The ferrets are then able to detect if any maintenance is required and feedback the information to their human counterparts.
Jon James, director of broadband for Virgin Media says: "For hundreds of years, ferrets have helped humans in various jobs. Our decision to use them is due to their strong nesting instinct, their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, and for their ability to get down holes. We initially kept the trial low-key as we wanted to asses how well the ferrets fitted into our operations before revealing this enterprising scheme!"
Virgin Media's broadband team said they hit on the idea of using ferrets when they discovered they were used to lay TV and sound cables for the televised coverage of the Party in the Park concert in Greenwich at the turn of the millennium.
Now the scheme has been running on a trial basis for a year and has proved so successful that Virgin Media is expanding its ferret force and continuing to use the furry investigators across the country.
The team of more 20 specially trained ferrets are the fastest in the land and hail from the National Ferret School in the Derbyshire Peaks.
Headed up by Fang and Bandit, who are top breed Silver-mitt ferrets, the ferrets undergo regimented training at the school and love to race in their spare time.
In the photographs to mark the one year anniversary with Virgin Media, the ferrets can be seen sitting patiently in a recreation of the famous 1932 Charles C Ebbets shot, 'Lunch atop a skyscraper', which was taken during the construction of the Rockefeller Centre in New York.
For more information on Virgin Media products and services, email april.f.day@virginmedia.co.uk
Virgin Media today revealed it had been using its team of fibre optic ferrets for a year.
And to mark the anniversary it has commissioned a photo-shoot of its talented rodent workers.
Virgin Media uses the ferrets to investigate, assess and support its underground network.
The unusual engineers not only search out the best areas to place the cable, but also wear jackets fitted with a special microchip able to analyse any breaks or damage in existing fibre optics.
The ferrets are then able to detect if any maintenance is required and feedback the information to their human counterparts.
Jon James, director of broadband for Virgin Media says: "For hundreds of years, ferrets have helped humans in various jobs. Our decision to use them is due to their strong nesting instinct, their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, and for their ability to get down holes. We initially kept the trial low-key as we wanted to asses how well the ferrets fitted into our operations before revealing this enterprising scheme!"
Virgin Media's broadband team said they hit on the idea of using ferrets when they discovered they were used to lay TV and sound cables for the televised coverage of the Party in the Park concert in Greenwich at the turn of the millennium.
Now the scheme has been running on a trial basis for a year and has proved so successful that Virgin Media is expanding its ferret force and continuing to use the furry investigators across the country.
The team of more 20 specially trained ferrets are the fastest in the land and hail from the National Ferret School in the Derbyshire Peaks.
Headed up by Fang and Bandit, who are top breed Silver-mitt ferrets, the ferrets undergo regimented training at the school and love to race in their spare time.
In the photographs to mark the one year anniversary with Virgin Media, the ferrets can be seen sitting patiently in a recreation of the famous 1932 Charles C Ebbets shot, 'Lunch atop a skyscraper', which was taken during the construction of the Rockefeller Centre in New York.
For more information on Virgin Media products and services, email april.f.day@virginmedia.co.uk