Interoute can’t afford to be your typical Telco

Interoute can’t afford to be your typical Telco. We restarted business
in the wake of the worst depression in modern telecoms history. We had a shiny new MPLS/IP multi-service network, unique in the breadth of its next generation network footprint across Europe. That was the good bit. The more difficult part: we had no captive customers. What we had to do was THINK, and think very hard about how we turned the unique asset we owned into a profitable network services business. And we knew we couldn’t follow any other telco’s example, because we weren’t like any other telco.

From the outset we sought to explore how we can make the telecommunications challenges of our customers simpler through scale, technology and a common service approach across the 40,000 km of network that we cover. This process of development and learning has led to us pioneering many services – NOT in the lab, but with  real customers who have real needs.

This blog is about that process: sharing with you our real experiences, and looking for your suggestions to help formulate our thinking going forward. We’re proud that we’ve figured some things out: how to deploy 100G of bandwidth in a single installation; how to build a carrier-grade VOIP network across Europe; how to launch long-haul and metro Ethernet products, some of which are the first of their kind on the market in Europe.

But we have a lot to learn. So, we hope this blog kicks off a two-way learning process, and that everyone who participates can take away something – and give something back.

WHEN WE THINK TELECOMS, WE THINK SOFTWARE: The traditional telecoms model sells specific isolated services, based on a specific technology or vendor. The telco then gives it a service wrap and geography. Even with the arrival of the converged MPLS services, operators are still leaving it up to their customers to create their own VOIP platform or hand it off to an expensive integrator.

We have a different approach. Just as there are only 4 main office applications (Word processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Email) for a PC,  there are only 5 for any network service: Network, Communication, Application Hosting, Content and Security. Any combination of these five enables you to build a corporate IT infrastructure or next generation service provider.

We think of services as the output of specific service platforms so customers can create different bundles together via one or multiple connections. This creates the notion of a truly “plug and play” Telco allowing our customers and partners to rapidly switch from IT deployments as “grand plans” with “grand risks and price tags” to dynamic tactical deployments with rapid acceptance and minimal investment.

In the coming weeks we’ll look at whether we’re “Reaching the limits of cyberspace” as the recent Deloitte Telecommunications Predictions - TMT Trends 2007 claims. And ask your opinions on whether a company can continue to be a progressive organisation without compromising network security.

“We believe innovation and development should be a truly collaborative process, so your opinion and interaction is absolutely key, click here to join the debate.”