ACC ICT chooses dark fibre from Relined as its foundation for the future

In order to safeguard IT continuity for its customers, ACC ICT searched for a suitable party to deliver a fibre-optic network. ACC ICT chose Relined Fiber Network as its ideal partner, and their dark fibre network as the foundation for the future.

For ACC ICT, the fibre-optic network must be robust, secure and scalable so that connections among the various data centres are worry-free. Extremely low latency is also important because response times are extremely important for the optimal performance of their customers’ applications. Relined’s dark fibre network is the perfect solution for this. By outsourcing these issues to a good partner, ACC ICT can focus completely on its core business.

Relined provides the fibre-optic connections and ACC ICT can focus fully on what it does best: the delivery and management of a development, testing, acceptance and production (DTAP) environment to developers and online service providers. In turn, ACC ICT customers can concentrate exclusively on writing code. It’s an ecosystem in which everyone’s power comes to the fore; this is our joint philosophy.

Regulating continuity

ACC ICT distinguishes itself by not aiming at its customers. They have consciously chosen to focus on the user of the online application. These are the users of the applications that ACC ICT’s customers make available online (as SaaS). One part of this is ACC ICT’s continuity regulation. The continuity regulation guarantees availability to application users in the event that ACC ICT or ACC ICT’s customer goes bankrupt. So, for the users of the applications, this means that continuity is guaranteed throughout the entire chain.

Setting up such a complex continuity regulation requires true partners. Partners who are prepared to make agreements about the continuity of the provision of services, also in the event of ACC ICT’s bankruptcy. It’s an improbable scenario. However, should this happen, then continuity for the application users is more important than the financial consequences for Relined. And this is precisely where Relined distinguishes itself and commits itself as a true partner, according to Bijleveld.

‘For ACC ICT and Relined, continuity for application users takes precedence.’

IT continuity

At ACC ICT, IT continuity is paramount. According to Bijleveld, the difference between providing continuity and guaranteeing it lies in operating independently of third parties. This certainly goes for the fibre-optic network. ACC ICT guarantees vendor independence by spreading traffic redundantly across multiple fibre-optic networks and geographically separate data centres.

A fibre-optic network is comprised of so-called dark fibre. Dark fibre is a passive, direct fibre-optic connection between two locations – in our case, between two data centres. In theory, you can press the fibre-optic cable into the ground on one side and pull hard on the other. Naturally, this differs in practice, but for purposes of illustration, a dark fibre truly is a medium for making a connection between two points. In order to transport data through a dark fibre, you have to “light up” the connection yourself. This means that the dark fibre is lit by a (laser beam) light at both ends and that communication takes place via this connection.

In our view, dark fibre is the most future-proof solution. Capabilities in terms of bandwidth are many times higher than with copper wire, coaxial or wireless connections, for example. Furthermore, latency (the delay introduced to bridge a given distance) is considerably lower than with any other medium. Bijleveld says that dark fibre can best be described as the way to carry the most data with the least delay. In other words, if you have dark fibre, then you can always scale up and transport even more data in less time – possibly by changing equipment in the data centres.

“Dark fibre is the most future-proof solution!”

Dark Fibre

But if dark fibre is passive and there’s lots of it already buried in the ground and you have to light up the dark fibre yourself, then why is a partnership so important?

Bijleveld relates: Relined has positioned itself as a partner by participating in the continuity regulation. Furthermore, you need a partner who knows exactly which route the dark fibre takes to go from data centre A to data centre B, since this is not a straight line. And this is important. Because if you provide continuity independent of third parties, then you need to know how the connections run at the street level. Together with Relined, we have mapped out the routes precisely. Not only for the most efficient route (the shortest), but also the most separated (redundant) route. This is done to prevent disruption among data centres – from excavation work, for example, that might sever multiple dark-fibre connections.

Naturally, it’s also important to have a partner with whom you can make firm agreements. When we schedule large migrations, we don’t want to be confronted with activities involving the fibre-optic infrastructure. In terms of continuity, that’s not a problem. But you want to maintain focus and not worry about possible emergencies that could affect dark fibre and the schedule. Another good illustration of why you need a partner is when you note a difference in attenuation. Attenuation is the resistance between two locations. If this is too great, then no light or insufficient light comes through the fibre, stopping communication. If the attenuation is too low, then too much light comes through the fibre and this disrupts communication.

So with changes in attenuation, you need a partner who can measure this and who can determine precisely whether excess resistance – or a broken cable – has occurred. And if so, exactly where. It also goes without saying that this partner resolves the problem noted in no time.

‘Glass (dark fibre) is the foundation for a future-proof platform that can keep growing.’

Collaboration with Relined

The collaboration with Relined is excellent. Incidents are nearly always avoided preventively. In the unlikely event of problems, they switch immediately and quickly and the lines of communication are short. They share their thoughts, are knowledgeable and set great store by their own SLA. Relined is, according to Bijleveld, a solid, professional IT partner. They understand that the security, flexibility and continuity of the fibre-optic network have a huge impact on the quality and reliability of the entire chain.

ACC ICT

ACC ICT is the premier specialist in IT continuity. They have stood for quality and technological progress since 1977. Over the course of the years, they have grown from renting computer systems into a specialist in IT continuity. ACC ICT continuously specialises in the latest technologies in order to provide optimum support to customers. One fine example of this is the level of Kubernetes* expertise. They have invested in this specialism since 2016 and were among the first Dutch companies to be awarded the distinction of Kubernetes Certified Solution Provider (KCSP).

ACC ICT’s objective is to have software developers and online service providers be able to focus solely on application functionalities and on writing the associated code. Making optimal use of the capabilities offered by micro-services is naturally part of this. ACC ICT takes care of the deployment of the entire application and infrastructure, including cloud management. Due to ACC ICT’s cloud-agnostic approach, cloud choice is determined by the customer’s desires, requirements and workload. This then always provides customers with the cloud that best fits their specific situation, while preventing cloud lock-in, so that migration to another cloud is possible at any time. After all, customers are always on the move, and we know one thing for certain: today’s specific situation is not the same one we’ll see in five years – this, according to Paul Bijleveld, Managing Director and Senior Partner at ACC ICT. Looking at our provision of services, we see that we are headed down the right path. But we want to get even better together by creating a stable and secure network with our partners like Relined, and preserving this for our customers. Therefore, our ambition is to grow further in the coming three years to become the market leader in the area of business-critical DTAP solutions.

* Kubernetes is an advanced and powerful open-source platform launched in 2014 by tech giant Google. This platform is ideal for orchestrating container-based applications. Kubernetes is the premier tool for software development teams to develop and automatically scale efficient, cloud-independent, business-critical applications, safeguarding continuity and keeping them up-to-date. Click here for more information.

Why dark fibre for IT service providers?

The use of dark fibre is not limited to IT service providers. Dark fibre can offer significant advantages to cloud infrastructure suppliers, internet service providers and organisations that transport significant amounts of data among locations for whatever reason, says Bijleveld.

Fibre, the glass, is independent. The glass requires a fixed monthly investment. So yes, you need to have a certain level of demand for data transport. However, if this critical mass is present, then the extra amount of data that can then be transported for the same investment is remarkable. Glass (dark fibre) is the foundation for a future-proof platform that can keep growing.

In short, dark fibre holds the future. And just as ACC ICT does, Relined delivers this product with high reliability, stringent security requirements and a high degree of involvement.

Care to discuss the possibilities of dark fibre for your organisation? Our specialists would be glad to meet with you!

Get in touch with us now.