The Future is Clear as Glass—and It’s Arriving at the Speed of Light

What do you get when you shoot light through glass? Clarity that transforms illumination into connection. Because that’s what fibre optics do: they offer clear communication that turns understanding into relationships between organizations, their people, and their futures. FlexNetworks understands this, selling business-grade, high-speed internet and point-to-point fibre connections between locations in the National Capital Region.

They know connection goes beyond the mechanics, though they keep their cutting edge sharp. They know it keeps businesses going when they can’t “go” to work, supporting growth in size and scope.

“Since March, companies have realized that good, reliable connectivity is Table-stakes—you cannot run a successful business anymore without having it at the centre of the network. And, as people returned to the office, the first budget line that got slashed was travel—so Zoom calls are the new normal,” says Chris Armatage, Director of National Business Development at FlexNetworks.

When it comes to working remotely, good internet is something you only notice when it’s not there. That’s because it shouldn’t be the focus of your online communications. Strong connectivity is the nervous system helping companies turn messages into action across a unified body—without having to think about it.

But this is only possible if customers can connect with their provider in the first place.

“From the technology standpoint, we’re the cutting edge—but we’re also local, super easy to get along with, and we pick up the phone, really. Any one of my clients can have my cellphone number and we’ll take care of them. That’s it,” says Kris Kelly, Senior Account Executive and client-first face of Flex in Ottawa.

Owned by Birch Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm with over $3 billion in capital under management, FlexNetworks is a small company that acts large, owning and expanding pure fibre assets without getting weighed down by legacy thinking and systems.

Instead, they prefer a more flexible approach while advancing the well-respected legacy of Atria Networks.

“If a customer is in growth mode and their needs from a technology point of view start to change, because of the way we run our network and provision our services into locations, we have the ability to up that bandwidth throughput very quickly,” says Mr. Armatage.

But this flexibility also goes beyond tech.

“They may have a specific need where, due to some budgeting situation, they’re unable to begin payment for a couple of months, so we might delay billing for that time to help them out. We’re very flexible in terms of how we run our networks, how we run our services, and how we bill the customer.”

A customizable approach like this one doesn’t only consider the customer’s present: it also benefits their business moving forward—and certain features like symmetrical, full-duplex connection and minimal latency are increasingly becoming necessities.

“There’s symmetrical, and then there’s full-duplex, and we’re both,” says Mr. Kelly.

“The other piece that comes into the whole mix is latency,” adds Mr. Armatage. “The real problem with latency comes with applications we’re starting to see now and into the next decade. Things that require immediate decisions because a machine has an algorithm running the application.” Like remote medical procedures and autonomous vehicles. “If there’s a delay, it throws off the entire operation. So what’s becoming important is not just the bandwidth, but the quality of that throughput. When you’re talking about fibre optics, you’re talking about next-gen ways to connect.”

For now, though, for most people, it means business as usual in unusual times—and a potential for growth.

FlexNetworks is growing, too.

“We’re in build mode, so we’ll look at anything and everything in the National Capital Region,” says Chris. “We will build to locations and consider not only each business, but its future goals.”

Got some future goals in mind? Give FlexNetworks a call—they’ll pick it up. kris.kelly@flexnetworks.ca