Vanco

Vanco operates around the world, helping multinational companies to obtain the network facilities best suited to their individual requirements. The company doesn’t have its own network infrastructure; its speciality is to carry out effective price negotiations with global, regional and local carriers on behalf of its customers.

“Our business model depends on being able to offer a close-knit virtual network in each of our local markets. The large number of carriers that are connected to TelecityGroup mean we are able to execute this strategy in the Netherlands perfectly.”

Ferran van den Berg,
Technical Consultant at Vanco Netherlands

Vanco’s clients are able to enjoy contracts that can be renewed every 12 months and scaled to meet their changing demands. Vanco links the services purchased from third party carriers to its own clients through the Vanco Service Integration Points, which it recently re-housed into TelecityGroup’s Amsterdam data centre.

Ferran van den Berg, Technical Consultant at Vanco Netherlands commented: “Our business model depends on being able to offer a close-knit virtual network in each of our local markets. The large number of carriers that are connected to TelecityGroup mean we are able to execute this strategy in the Netherlands perfectly.”

Vanco is an example of a company where a talented CEO, Allan Timpany, has managed to build up an innovative and globally successful business almost from scratch. Timpany began his career supplying Apple computers in Great Britain. After selling this enterprise to a division of Philips Electronics he founded the company Wakebourne, which soon became the largest company dealing with the maintenance of IBM and Compaq desktop systems in the UK. Following the privatisation of the British landline telecommunications industry, Timpany saw a market opportunity and purchased Vanco for less than £1 in 1988. Timpany was interested in using the telecommunications licence owned by the company to enter the market without having to build and maintain expensive networks.

Forty percent growth

Timpany gave Vanco a renewed focus. By offering virtual network services, the company managed to break-even within two years of his arrival. Vanco’s innovative and client oriented business model was a formula for success, and soon reached a growth of 40 per cent a year. In every regional market where the company operated, it was able to compete effectively with the carriers which owned their own networks. Vanco now has 900 employees worldwide, with a yearly turnover of more than 270 million Euros.

Empty page

Vanco found that the traditional Dutch saying: ‘a carpenter holding a hammer will see a nail in every problem’ was particularly relevant for its competitors, carriers tied to their own network. According to Van den Berg these players with huge technological investments to maintain, are only able to tell customers: ‘this is the solution and we will try to fit your problem into it.’ Vanco meanwhile, approaches its clients in a very different way: “We start every meeting with an empty page. We list all the available technologies and carriers, and help the client to make the optimal choice based on its individual requirements. We can combine various technologies such as internet connectivity, VPNs, MPLS and Ethernet into one solution, meaning we can offer the premium solution for every client.”

Vanco set up its first Service Integration Point in the Netherlands with a different company, but due to its extraordinary growth in the region, quickly recognised that TelecityGroup would be the perfect partner for future expansion:

“We pay very close attention to a maximum density of Points of Presence (POPs) in the region,” said Van den Berg. “As there are so many carriers connected to TelecityGroup, integrating with its facilities meant there would be a great expansion to our geographical range, as well as the option to build in more redundancy to our solutions. “

In the summer of 2006 Vanco met with TelecityGroup in the Netherlands to discuss working together:

“Vanco had already set up Service Integration Points at TelecityGroup facilities in other European locations, and because TelecityGroup works according to the same high standards in each of its data centres, we knew this would enable us to speed up the buying process,” says van den Berg. “The most important factor for us was the high density of connected carriers contained within the facility, through which we could expand our portfolio. We were also very impressed by the excellent support we received, both during the sales process and at completion.”

High quality network equipment

The Vanco integration facilities were set-up in TelecityGroup’s Amsterdam data centre in January 2007, using high quality network equipment – supported by redundant power supply and cooling systems - to connect carrier services to Vanco’s clients. All maintenance and monitoring is carried out by the company itself via its round-the-clock Network Management Centres.

Interested in IP-Multihome

“With this expansion we now have a redundant presence in Amsterdam and due to the density of connected carriers in TelecityGroup’s facility, we have a greater than ever range in the Netherlands,” says Ferran. “Since we began working with TelecityGroup, its service always lived up to our expectations, and the company provides us with clear information and 24/7 support. We are now also interested in using TelecityGroup’s IP Multihome service for a number of our clients, as its pricing and availability make it a very good redundant option for internet access.”

Vanco chose TelecityGroup, because:

• TelecityGroup offered excellent support during and after the sales process
• TelecityGroup has a high level of connectivity with Dutch carriers
• TelecityGroup offers a high quality service TelecityGroup meets high expectations
• TelecityGroup develops innovative services such as IP Multihome

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