aql is a telecommunications company based in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, UK. It is principally known for operating carrier neutral

data centres In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted. ...

, and for providing services relating to colocation, mobile messaging,

IP telephony Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

, and secure mobile connectivity for the

internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

(IoT). The company's head office is located at the historic Salem Chapel in

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

, Leeds.

Company history

aql was founded in 1998 by former

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

lecturer and

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

communications specialist Professor Adam Beaumont as a domain name registrar and email and web hosting company. By 2003, aql had expanded into wholesale telecommunications, supplying UK phone numbers to the broadband industry to support IP telephony/VoIP services, providing mobile messaging services and supplying wholesale messaging platforms to international and UK networks. The company is responsible for more than 94 million numbers on 42 different telecoms networks. It also hosts 40 million UK numbers for voice services. Beaumont purchased Salem Chapel in 2009. The Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

was renovated and restored to house aql's head office, including two data centres, an exhibition space and a conference facility. The firm had a turnover of £7 million and employed around 40 people in 2013. Also in 2013, aql announced plans to invest £43 million to build a data centre on the former site of Yorkshire Chemicals in Hunslet, Leeds. The company acquired a 57,000 sq ft former council building located at South Point, Leeds for around half a million pounds in 2015. The company announced plans to convert the site into another data centre. In September 2015, aql purchased

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

-based BlueWave Communications following the death of its founder, former

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

contestant

Stuart Baggs Stuart Baggs (23 July 1988 – 30 July 2015), also known by his self-styled sobriquet as Stuart Baggs "The Brand", was an English businessman and entrepreneur from Plymouth, Devon. He founded and ran BlueWave Communications, a broadband company ...

. In March 2017, aql won the contract to serve the UK's universities, colleges and teaching hospitals with secure data storage via a framework contract operated by Jisc. aql unveiled its first autonomous vehicle in April 2018, and announced a consortium of partners, including

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

, the

and Bradford city councils, Citu and CitiPark, to trial the vehicles in Leeds.

IXLeeds

Since 2011, one of aql's Salem Chapel data centres has housed the Leeds internet exchange, IXLeeds. IXLeeds is the UK's only fully independent internet exchange outside London. Beaumont co-founded the exchange, and serves as company secretary.

Leeds' WiFi telephone boxes

In 2013, aql reconditioned 24 Giles Gilbert Scott-designed red telephone boxes. The boxes were painted blue, converted into

solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

free WiFi access points, and placed around

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. C ...

. The boxes are known as Leeds Electronic Ordnance and Digital Information System, or LEODIS, after the old English name for the city of Leeds. In July 2017, aql announced that the initiative had seen 100,000 unique users since its introduction.

Sponsorship and local support

In May 2017, aql was announced as the Communications Sponsor for Lendy Cowes Week 2017. In addition to sponsoring the event, aql competed in the 50-nautical mile race around the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. CEO Adam Beaumont was joined at the helm by blind sailor Lucy Hodges . In June 2018 it was announced that aql had struck a 5-year deal to continue sponsoring the event. Also in May 2017, aql was among the local companies to offer support and financial backing to Leeds' bid to become European Capital of Culture 2023. Since 2000, aql has sponsored a live webcam overlooking

Millennium Square Millennium Square may refer to: * Millennium Square, Bristol * Millennium Square, Leeds *Millennium Square, Sheffield Millennium Square is a modern city square in Sheffield, England. It was created as part of the Heart of the City project that b ...

, Leeds. The company is a patron of Leeds Community Foundation.

References

{{reflist

External links

aql

IXLeeds
1998 establishments in England British companies established in 1998 Companies based in Leeds Data centers Technology companies established in 1998 Telecommunications companies established in 1998 Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom