Cases - Telecom Provider - YaWorks

One of our clients, a major operator of fiber optic networks in the Netherlands, recently merged with another major player in the market. Since then, the company has been providing internet with gigabit speeds, interactive TV, and fixed and mobile telephony to consumers and the business market. They have the ambition to give as many households as possible access to ultra-fast fiber optics. Consequently, there are serious growth plans to connect millions of customers to the new fiber optic network within 5 years. To enable this acceleration and scaling, the underlying network infrastructure had to be prepared accordingly.

Due to the integration of the two companies, the existing (WDM) network had to be brought under management at the new merged organization. During the preceding technical due diligence, it became apparent that the technological state was not compatible with the growth objectives of the new organization. YaWorks was asked to design the new (WDM) network and simultaneously create a transition plan to move from outdated technology to a modern, manageable, and scalable network

Over time, networks can become a patchwork of unique components and complex solutions. As a result, an average outage can lead to excessively long resolution times and thus high management costs (in non-standardized environments, every problem is unique).

Initially, it was thought that an upgrade of the network would be sufficient to solve this problem, but due to the way the network had evolved, expanding it became far too costly. When the supplier of the technology finally announced that this solution would no longer be supported, it became absolutely necessary to completely renew the network.

Why did it matter?
Digitization whitout stagnation. All processes must be kept running at all times, that is the first priority. During this digital transformation, the factory environment needs to be and stay safe and the production process cannot be jeopardised. But when the factory becomes one big computer, who takes control? Operations or the IT department? And how do you get the most from talented people on both sides, without any unnecessary competition?

How did we do it? Capacity for tomorrow's ambitions
A future-proof solution for today's problems would take too long to materialize. Therefore, work was immediately started to realize short-term improvements: The manageability of the old network was elevated to a higher level through standardization. This reduced the number of failures and reduced resolution times. This provided stability and the necessary space to work on tomorrow's network:

As an independent advisor, YaWorks shaped the program of requirements and wishes and provided guidance for the procurement of the new network. This allowed the proposed solutions to be tested against the client's technical and functional requirements.
We developed the design of the new network, to ultimately technically guide the organization during the transition to the new WDM network.
Scalability was an important driver for the replacement, so the transition plan paid special attention to cost-efficient construction of new distribution locations. By significant expansion with over 100 new locations (including – for the techies among us – 20 core locations connected to AMS-IX), more than enough capacity was created to support the growth ambitions of the new organization.

The Ya-Factor
With an acute problem, for which the structural solution had a long lead time, stabilizing intervention was necessary. Without making disinvestments that would eventually be renewed anyway. Deep expertise had to be combined with pragmatism: a typical Ya-factor. Additionally, we helped bridge the gap between old and new technology. Developing a vision for the future is one thing, but the real complexity only begins when controlled migration must occur from a severely outdated environment. It is therefore essential to stand with one foot in the old Tech and the other in the new Tech: Ya-factor number two. Finally, a transformation involves many different phases and – not unimportantly – different interests and stakeholders per phase. Because YaWorkers always advise from a position of independence, it is abundantly clear whose interests we represent: those of the client.

The Digital Backbone is Industry specific What businesses need from their IT differs significantly across industries. While compliancy is a major differentiator in Financial Services, it isn’t a priority in manufacturing. It’s why the digital backbone isn’t a universal commodity but a fit for purpose architecture. Because IT requirements within an industry often do have strong similarities,

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Telecom Provider

A solid foundation for acceleration and scaling

The challenge

Capacity for tomorrow's ambitions

The problem

The realization of a digital backbone

Importance of solution

YaWorks & Telecom Provider

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