Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a huge impact in the Netherlands.

As an organisation, we are following all developments closely and have taken the measures necessary in relation to our personnel and business contacts to prevent infection and transmission of the virus as far as possible. The first measures aimed at further limiting the spread of the virus took effect within Relined Fiber Network on 28 February. These measures are based on the advice provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), and will be updated as and when necessary.

(last update 9 April 2020)

Measures

Our personnel follow the RIVM guidelines, including:

• Wash your hands regularly (with soap)
• Cough/sneeze into the inside of your elbow
• Use paper tissues and throw these away immediately after use
• Do not shake hands

Our personnel are mostly working from home, unless this is not possible owing to their role or the nature of their work. In the following cases, members of our organisation will always work from home:

• Employees with colds a raised temperature should work from home until the symptoms have cleared up.
• Employees sharing a home with someone with flu-like symptoms will work from home until the person concerned’s symptoms have cleared up and they are certain that they are not developing any symptoms themselves.

Meetings, events and (business) travel (valid at least until 1 June):

• Meetings at our premises or at our contacts’ premises are postponed or replaced by telephone conversations
• We are not participating in events
• Business trips are cancelled

With these measures, we hope to limit the spread of the virus as much as possible while maintaining our organisation’s provision of service. Nevertheless, these measures may have an impact on some of the services we provide. Naturally, our first priority is the health of our employees and all of our contacts.

Planned work

Maintenance work needs to be carried out for the sake of the continuity of our network. You will be notified of such planned work in advance. Rest assured that we have assessed – particularly in this time of crisis – that this planned work really is necessary and cannot be postponed. You can therefore assume that planned work about which you receive notification or have received a notification does in fact need to be carried out. This planned work will therefore go ahead as normal.

Potential impact – interruptions

In relation to the provision of our services, the resolution of any interruptions to the service is our highest priority. It is essential, particularly at this time of crisis, that your connection continues to work. In the event of reduced availability of our personnel and resources, all of our attention will be focused on resolving interruptions. Other projects and commercial activities will be allocated a lower priority.

We have currently identified the following potential risks of interruption to our services:

Availability of the service desk

• Owing to the present situation, our personnel will provide support from an address other than our offices
• Current impact: This has no impact whatsoever on the way the interruption is handled. In the event of a large number of support personnel not being available, personnel from other departments within the organisation will be used

Unavailability of contractors’ personnel

• Owing to illness/quarantine, personnel may be unavailable and contractors may face personnel shortages. In the event that a contractor is to be called in to make a measurement or resolve an interruption, we see a potential risk through unavailability of personnel on the part of our contractors owing to illness/quarantine. This is our main priority. We have good agreements in place with our contractors, as well as many contacts with other contractors we can bring in in the event of personnel shortages. This allows us to make every effort to minimise the risk of SLA completion times not being met. The progress of your interruption will be coordinated by our Service Desk.
• Current impact: At present no situations have arisen in which this is the case.

Access to sites

• All connections have a start and end point. In order to carry out measurements through a connection in the event of an interruption, we need to have access to both sites. If no access is provided, complete measurement of the connection is not possible.
• Current impact: At present no situations have arisen in which this is the case. All data centres to date have stated that they are accessible in the case of urgent work and interruptions. Whether company premises are accessible is up to the individual customer.

Potential impact – projects

We are trying our utmost to allow current projects to continue. Our personnel will continue to coordinate their projects from home. Face-to-face meetings, for example to discuss the project, are at present not taking place in order to protect our personnel and our contacts. This will have no/minimal impact on your project completion times.

At present, we have identified the following potential risks for projects:

Unavailability of contractors’ personnel

• Personnel may be unavailable owing to illness/quarantine and contractors may therefore face personnel shortages. This could mean that your connection is delivered later than was indicated in the planning. Your Project Manager will keep you informed should this be the case. We are trying to keep this risk to a minimum by seeing whether, in cases of unavailability, the project can be handed over to another contractor.
• Current impact: At present, no situations have arisen in which this is the case.

Longer turnaround time for permit applications

• Owing to unavailability of personnel at government bodies, it is possible that permit applications may take longer than usual.
• Current impact: At present, we are noticing that permit applications are taking longer than the standard processing times for these. This means that project completion times may be longer. In relation to your specific project, you will be kept informed by your Project Manager.

Access to sites

• All connections have a start and end point. In order to deliver a connection, our contractors must have access to the business premises and/or data centres concerned. If this access is not granted, the connection cannot be delivered
• Current impact: At present, several datacentres has stated that their site is open only for urgent work and interruptions. This means that new connections cannot be made. In relation to your specific project, you will be kept informed by your Project Manager.

Potential impact – new orders/contracts

Delivery time

• Current impact: Owing to longer permit application processes and the granting of priority to resolving interruptions, delivery times for new projects will be longer than normal. We are making every effort to limit the impact of this.
• Exceptions: In the event that a new connection or delivery of a network is to an organisation playing a crucial role in combating the Corona crisis, we will take extra measures and treat this as an urgent project. You must be able to demonstrate in writing that this is the case.

We hope that the above provides you with sufficient information. Please approach your contact person should you have any further questions concerning our policy and cooperation. We will of course inform you immediately of any significant new changes.

We would like to thank you for understanding. If you have any questions or comments about the above, please contact us at T: +31 (0)347 358 010 or E: info@relined.eu.