De Hypotheekshop

De Hypotheekshop, the biggest mortgage consultancy chain in the Netherlands, moved its externally hosted servers to a TelecityGroup data centre in Amsterdam in December 2006. Since this time both the website and the back office has been running on racks hosted by TelecityGroup. De Hypotheekshop also takes advantage of the IP-Multihome service, TelecityGroup’s carrier independent internet connectivity.

"We like to have the contracts for management and hosting with two different parties. TelecityGroup’s services make up the foundation of our data environment. Should we, for whatever reason, decide to switch to a different provider, then we will still have TelecityGroup data centre’s solid foundation."

Wouter Berman,
Head of ICT at De Hypotheekshop

De Hypotheekshop is a professional franchise format where the affiliated branches present themselves as independent consultants of mortgage advisers. With almost 200 branches it is the biggest mortgage consultancy chain in the Netherlands. The independent branches are guided and supported by the central organisation in Huizen in matters such as purchasing, marketing, computerisation, training programmes and back office.

Recently De Hypotheekshop consolidated its IT infrastructure with a server based infrastructure that allows all branches to access the internet, company applications and the central database. The new server based infrastructure offers all branches access to the central applications and database via Citrix software. The ICT service provider SIMAC designed this area for De Hypotheekshop and also manages it. Half of all branches have now migrated and in the summer of 2007 every one of the 200 branches will have migrated.

‘Best of breed’

De Hypotheekshop was interested in finding a new partner for hosting its website and company area. The first meeting with TelecityGroup, the European market leader when it comes to data centre services, took place in June 2006.

Wouter Berman, head of ICT at De Hypotheekshop: “We have a ‘best of breed’ philosophy; rather than having only one supplier for everything, we bring in the best player for each different field. What you lose on purchasing advantage, you gain greatly in flexibility.”

A solid foundation

De Hypotheekshop wanted to deal with TelecityGroup directly. Berman: “We like to have the contracts for management and hosting with two different parties. TelecityGroup’s services make up the foundation of our data environment. Should we, for whatever reason, decide to switch to a different provider, then we will still have TelecityGroup data centre’s solid foundation.”

TelecityGroup could also fulfil the De Hypotheekshop’s internet access requirements. Berman: “As the telecommunications market is always under development it is useful to have flexibility with our contracts. Our last data centre provider supplied us with KPN bandwidth. TelecityGroup gives us the opportunity to choose from fibreglass access through any provider that operates in the Netherlands, and also has its own attractively priced internet access. For this reason we chose TelecityGroup’s own IP Multihome service with high availability.”

Customer portal

Between late October and December 2006 the racks for De Hypotheekshop were installed, all existing servers were transferred and the new servers were installed. First the web application, which De Hypotheekshop manages completely on its own, was transferred. After that the migration of the service based company area followed, which is managed by SIMAC.

Iwan Kussendrager, TelecityGroup account manager comments: “Through secure access to TelecityGroup’s facilities the engineers from SIMAC and De Hypotheekshop have very flexible access to the racks and to our support. Through our customer portal they can easily request First Level Support (FLS) and obtain access codes to visit the data centre.”

A distinct difference

Berman can clearly see the benefits already, he comments: “TelecityGroup is markedly prompt in responding to requests such as changes in the cabling. When you visit the data centre there are facilities available which mean you can get to work quickly - a screen and keyboard, for example. That may seem like a minor detail, but it shows TelecityGroup takes its clients seriously. Crucially, our decision to work with TelecityGroup means we can carry out tape back-ups, something that was not possible with our previous supplier. Generally we experience the security of a partner where even at night there is always a qualified engineer on site. It’s very reassuring that the support and engineering staff are available 24/7.”

Security for the branches

The branches of De Hypotheekshop are, in effect, owners of the central organisation with a franchise association as supervisor. To make decisions in various areas various commissions have been created.

Berman explains: “The branches have a lot of influence. If we do something wrong we immediately see the response on our intranet forum. Through working with TelecityGroup we can offer every branch the security and availability that they rightfully expect from us.”

De Hypotheekshop chose TelecityGroup, because:

• Qualified engineers are on site 24/7
• TelecityGroup can provide tape back-up
• TelecityGroup offers a good price/performance ratio
• TelecityGroup stands for maximum security and availability
• TelecityGroup matches quality with speed and flexibility

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