Company
Altares is the exclusive partner in France, Benelux and North Africa of the international B2B information network Dun & Bradstreet. More than 100,000 organisations rely on Altares’s data across 220 countries and use its business intelligence applications.
Business Drivers
To support its growing user base, Altares wanted to remove the burden of managing network lines and equipment by moving to a fully managed WAN. The company also aimed to bring smaller sites directly onto the network to improve access to applications and data, strengthen resilience, and make better use of Microsoft Teams telephony.
The Solution
Colt deployed an SD WAN connecting Altares sites in Paris, Lyon, Aix‑en‑Provence, Brussels and Rotterdam, supported by Colt Intelligent Communications for inbound and outbound calls, and AWS Direct Connect for access to cloud‑hosted data.
To boost performance and resilience, Colt installed MPLS and IP Access connections at the three main sites and both data centres in an active/active configuration. Charly Peron, Head of Infrastructure at Altares, and his team use a Colt portal to route traffic over the MPLS connections, optimising speed and responsiveness for critical business functions. IP Access circuits provide reliable connectivity for the Aix‑en‑Provence and Lyon sites.
“SD WAN made it easy and transparent to bring our smaller sites on to the network and provide them with stable connectivity,” says Charly. “We no longer get complaints about latency or performance.”
Each SD WAN router includes built‑in firewall and security features, removing the need for additional appliances and simplifying operations. Intelligent Communications integrates seamlessly with SD WAN, enabling transparent use of Microsoft Teams telephony.
“As a licensed operator in all our countries, Colt could port our phone numbers to their network,” says Charly. “That was critical to ensuring nothing changed for our clients when we moved to Teams telephony.”
The Altares infrastructure team benefits from outsourcing network management to Colt while retaining control of traffic prioritisation. The fully managed service provides secure, reliable connectivity at all sites, with redundant MPLS and IP Access connections ensuring resilience. Together, SD WAN and Intelligent Communications also deliver cost savings compared to previous solutions.
The business drivers
Altares wanted to eliminate the burden of managing lines and equipment by switching to a fully managed WAN; bring smaller sites directly onto the network to enhance connectivity to apps and data; enhance resilience; and make better use of Microsoft Teams telephony.
A Colt SD WAN connecting Altares sites in Paris, Lyon, Aix en Provence, Brussels and Rotterdam, with Colt Intelligent Communications for inbound and outbound calls, and AWS Direct Connect for access to data hosted in the AWS cloud.
The Altares infrastructure team benefits from outsourcing network management to Colt while keeping control of traffic prioritisation. Colt's Intelligent Communications integrates with SD WAN, enabling transparent use of Microsoft Teams telephony with all numbers ported to the Colt network.
Fully managed service providing secure ad reliable connectivity at all sites. Redundant, active/active MPLS and IP Access connections at major sites ensure resilience and enable traffic prioritisation. SD WAN and Intelligent Communications deliver cost savings compared to previous solutions.
The Colt Difference
“We chose Colt because we trusted their connectivity expertise and quality of service,” says Charly. “As an SMB with a small infrastructure team, we need to be able to outsource services to trusted, responsive partners like Colt.”
With SD WAN and Intelligent Communications, Altares has strengthened performance and resilience, improving the user experience and supporting greater productivity.
“Not only do we have a solution that meets our needs perfectly, we're also making significant cost savings,” concludes Charly.
