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By Heather McLean, 31 May 2002 17:10

NEWS Customers of bankrupt fibre optic network operator KPNQwest could be in serious trouble if they have not already put alternative network providers in place. Those customers that have heeded the company's warnings that its network may collapse and made contingency plans have made the right move, according to Mark Maine, senior analyst for next generation networks with Ovum. Maine said: "Customers that have put their head in the sand thinking this problem will go away are going to be caught on the hop. "This could spell great difficulties for businesses that haven't made provision to transfer at least some of their network to an incumbent operator within the countries they operate in." Those customers contacted by silicon.com claimed the company's collapse would not hurt them. A spokesman at Dutch airline KLM said: "Our network contract is with KPN who then use KPNQwest's fibre optic network. KPN said it would sort these problems out and if KPN has said that, we trust them." A spokesman from airline portal Odopo, another KPNQwest customer, said: "We do have alternatives. Odopo customers can be assured we will be operating as normal." However, many are likely to suffer some disruption, even if they have sourced alternative suppliers. Iain Stevenson, a networking analyst again with Ovum, said: "If customers have IP VPN installations with KPNQwest they will have big network configuration problems when they eventually find another carrier. It will all be screwed up as the reimplementation of a network can't be done that quickly." He added: "When something like this happens, it's the administrative procedures that cause the problems. It's a hassle to get another business to take on KPNQwest's network at such short notice." While most global Fortune 500 customers of KPNQwest will use several network carriers, there are some that have put all their eggs in one basket. Maine said: "KPNQwest's strategy was to go for big customers that it tried to steal from incumbent operators. If those businesses have got their network lock, stock and barrel from KPNQwest and they haven't seen this coming and transferred to trusted carriers they've got severe problems." Web access in Europe could also be disrupted, as KPNQwest's network carries considerable amounts of internet traffic.