Total Optical Networks
Total Optical Networks is a Swiss-Liechtenstein regional telecom operator owning a 2,800 km fiber backbone across the FL-A-CH region, providing enterprise managed WAN, dark fiber, colocation, DDoS protection, SD-WAN, and SCION secure networking to financial institutions, mid-to-large enterprises, ICT carriers, and energy utilities.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersSankt Margrethen, Switzerland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Total Optical Networks does
Total Optical Networks AG (TON) is a privately held Swiss telecommunications operator headquartered in St. Margrethen, with a branch entity in Liechtenstein, founded in 2000. The company owns and operates over 2,800 km of lit fiber backbone across the FL-A-CH region (Eastern Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg, Austria) and provides enterprise and wholesale connectivity services including Business Connect managed WAN (up to 400Gbps), Business Internet DIA/IP-Transit (up to 100Gbps), dark fiber and WDM services, SD-WAN, colocation at 30+ carrier-neutral sites, DDoS protection, Direct2Cloud multicloud connectivity (Azure, AWS, SAP, Oracle), and SCION-based secure networking (commercialized via partnership with ETH Zürich). It also offers a Smart Metering Transport (T-SMTP) solution for energy utilities.
TON's business model is built on recurring managed-service and subscription contracts with mid-to-large enterprises, financial institutions, insurance companies, ICT providers/carriers, and energy utilities, augmented by one-time installation fees for dark fiber and project-based consulting. Go-to-market is direct and consultative — no public pricing is disclosed, and customers are acquired through the corporate website, inbound consultation requests, and direct sales engagement. Pricing is quote-based with annual billing cadence. The company differentiates on three pillars: its proprietary fiber backbone and NNI POP ecosystem, its Direct2Tech Premium Support model (24x7x365 direct engineer access without a call center), and early commercial adoption of SCION architecture. Leadership comprises a four-person executive team (CEO Pascal Seidel, CFO Erica Seidel, CMO Christof Bernet, CTO Patrick Strässle), and the company employs 11–50 people overall, with no disclosed external institutional investors, funding events, or M&A activity.
Total Optical Networks firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Total Optical Networks
- Legal name
- Total Optical Networks AG
- Website
- https://ton-net.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Total Optical Networks is a Swiss-Liechtenstein regional telecom operator owning a 2,800 km fiber backbone across the FL-A-CH region, providing enterprise managed WAN, dark fiber, colocation, DDoS protection, SD-WAN, and SCION secure networking to financial institutions, mid-to-large enterprises, ICT carriers, and energy utilities.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Total Optical Networks industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Fiber-optic telecommunications and managed network services
- NAICS
- Wired Telecommunications Carriers (517111), Wired and Wireless Telecommunications (except Satellite) (5171), Wired and Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite) (51711)
- SIC
- Telephone Communications (No Radiotelephone) (4813), Communications Services, Nec (4899)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fiber-to-the-Premises/Building (FTTP/FTTB) Operators (HDAIACAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Backbone & Long-Haul Transport (IP/MPLS, Optical/Wavelength) (HDABALAH), Carrier Ethernet & Wavelength Wholesale (E-Line/E-LAN, OTN, lambda) (HDAIAEAB)
Keywords
Where Total Optical Networks is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sankt Margrethen
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Total Optical Networks business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Managed Network Services (Business Connect, SD-WAN, Business Internet): Recurring managed service contracts for WAN connectivity, internet access, and SD-WAN solutions targeting enterprise customers. Bandwidths offered up to 400Gbps for managed services and 100Gbps for internet access.
- Housing and Colocation: Modular colocation services at over 30 locations in the FL-A-CH region with 7x24x365 redundant access to digital business platforms.
- Dark Fibre and WDM Services: One-time installation and recurring service fees for dark fibre connections and WDM wavelength services supporting up to 96 wavelengths at 100G/200G/400G per lambda.
- Smart Metering Transport (T-SMTP): Customized transport solutions for energy utilities (EVU) enabling remote meter reading via fibre optic infrastructure, including equipment, networking, and 7x24h support.
- Wholesale Bandwidth and Connectivity: Wholesale solutions offering NNI (Network to Network Interface) connections, IP-Transit (AS 12387), Layer 2 services, and bandwidth from 10Mbps to 400Gbps to other carriers and service providers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Custom enterprise connectivity and managed services |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels2 records
Total Optical Networks product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Total Optical Networks provides managed fiber-optic connectivity, dedicated internet access, dark fibre, colocation, SD-WAN, multicloud connectivity, and DDoS protection for enterprises and institutions across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg (Austria). All services run over TON's proprietary 2,800+ km fiber backbone and are bundled with 24x7x365 Direct2Tech premium support that connects customers directly with an on-call engineer.
Product overview
Total Optical Networks (TON) is a telecommunications provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of data and telecom solutions across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg (Austria). The core offering centers on high-bandwidth connectivity solutions including Business Connect (WAN networking up to 400Gbps), Business Internet (DIA and IP-Transit up to 100Gbps), and Dark Fibre (Business Fibre with WDM services up to n x 400G). The company differentiates through its proprietary backbone network spanning over 2,800 km of fibre, advanced SD-WAN capabilities, and premium Direct2Tech support. Key add-on services include DDoS Protection, Direct2Cloud multicloud connectivity (Azure, AWS, SAP, Oracle), and SCION next-generation networking architecture. TON serves enterprise and institutional customers in financial services, insurance, and ICT sectors with solutions available from 10Mbps to 800Gbps bandwidth.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Direct2Tech: Premium 24x7x365 technical support service connecting customers directly with on-call engineers, no call centre or voice menu.
- Business Connect
- Business Internet
- Direct2Cloud
- Business Fibre
- Smart Metering Transport (T-SMTP)
- Wholesale Solutions
Products and services
- Business Connect Modular managed WAN service for secure and efficient site networking, available nationally and internationally with bandwidth up to 400Gbps. Built on TON's own backbone in the FL-A-CH region, designed for enterprises needing private multi-site networks with Direct2Tech premium support available.
- Business Internet Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) and IP-Transit service from 100Mbps to 100Gbps with optional DDoS Protection included. Features redundant connections, separated routing, dual-provider support, BGP Management, and Autonomous Systems (AS) support for enterprise and wholesale customers.
- DDoS Protection On-detection DDoS mitigation service that reroutes attack traffic through a Threat Management System (TMS) which filters malicious traffic and returns clean traffic to its destination, with 7x24h Direct2Tech engineer response available to combat attacks on enterprise networks.
- Direct2Cloud & Multicloud Secure, high-availability dedicated connectivity to multiple cloud providers (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, SAP, and Oracle) via dedicated lines with bandwidth from 50Mbps to 10Gbps, designed for enterprises with multicloud workloads.
- Housing – Colocation Modular housing and colocation service with OnNet networking at over 30 locations in the FL-A-CH region, providing 7x24x365 redundant access to digital business platforms with UPS power, redundant routing, and climate-controlled environments.
- SD-WAN Software-Defined WAN service enabling hybrid use of dedicated lines (L2/L3/MPLS) and Internet connections across enterprise locations, with intelligent traffic routing across dedicated line, Internet, and LTE transports and cloud-service optimization, including a VPN-alternative for China connectivity from the FL-A-CH region.
- Business Fibre (Dark Fibre) Direct dark fibre connections between company sites with optional WDM services, supporting bandwidth of n x 400G Ethernet and n x FC Fibre Channel, including fibre optic deployment to customer buildings, guaranteed SLA, and 7x24h Direct2Tech support.
- SCION Next-generation connection architecture developed by ETH Zürich providing cryptographically signed routing paths, eliminating the need for VPNs and central Internet providers, and enabling direct any-to-any communication with path control at packet level and automatic fail-safe path switching. Available variants include SSFN (Finance), SSHN (Healthcare), SEPN (Payment), and SSUN (Energy).
- Smart Metering Transport (T-SMTP) Customized fibre-based transport solution for energy utilities (EVU) enabling intelligent remote meter reading (electricity, water, gas, heat) for single-family homes, multi-family homes, and commercial properties, including equipment, networking, and 7x24h Direct2Tech support.
- WDM Services DWDM/CWDM system solutions enabling cost-effective and secure multi-use of dark fibre connections, supporting up to 96 wavelengths over fibre at 100% traffic with bandwidths of 100G, 200G, and 400G per lambda.
- Direct2Tech Premium Support 24x7x365 premium technical support service connecting customers directly with an on-call engineer without a call centre or voice menu, available as an option alongside Business Connect, Business Internet, and SD-WAN services.
- BGP Management Border Gateway Protocol support service including consultation, hardware implementation, programming, and ongoing support, covering AS-Path, Local Preference, Multi-Exit Discriminator, and Communities configuration for enterprise and carrier customers.
- Consulting & Engineering Vendor-independent consulting services covering transmission consolidation, expansion planning, project implementation, and validation/verification, with end-to-end engineering support from consultation through implementation and monitoring.
Quantifiable outcome
- 8 out of 10 top Liechtenstein companies trust TON as their data and telecom provider.
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Total Optical Networks
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Total Optical Networks technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature4 records
Total Optical Networks partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ETH ZürichcoreSCION, a next-generation internet architecture developed at ETH Zürich, is offered by TON as a commercial service. SCION provides cryptographically signed routing paths, eliminates VPN requirements, and enables direct any-to-any communication with high efficiency and security. TON is the commercial provider bringing SCION to enterprise customers in the FL-A-CH region.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Total Optical Networks competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- IXs / DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem: Carrier-neutral Internet exchange and interconnection ecosystem. Conceptually adjacent — TON's NNI POPs and AS 12387 IP-Transit flow through DE-CIX-style exchanges, making DE-CIX a key ecosystem peer rather than direct competitor.
Broad incumbents
- Sunrise / UPC Switzerland (Liberty Global): Major Swiss fixed-line and mobile operator with significant fiber footprint and enterprise offerings. Competes with TON for mid-to-large enterprise WAN, internet, and colocation across the same Swiss geography, but at national scale with broader consumer franchises.
- Swisscom: Switzerland's incumbent telecommunications operator providing nationwide fiber, mobile, cloud, and managed WAN services. Direct overlap with TON across Business Internet, SD-WAN, colocation, and IP-Transit, but operating at national scale with a much broader portfolio and corporate customer base.
Emerging players
- RETN: International wholesale IP and transport carrier with significant European backbone and IP-Transit (AS 9002), overlapping TON's wholesale/AS 12387 role but at global reach. Comparable on the IP-Transit, Layer 2, and wavelength wholesaling axis.
Direct peers
- Colt Technology Services: Pan-European fiber operator providing enterprise-grade wavelengths, Ethernet, SD-WAN, and colocation across FL-A-CH and beyond. Highly comparable business model to TON — owned fiber backbone, wholesale and enterprise channels, on-net data centers — but operating at much larger European scale.
- euNetworks Fiber Infrastructure: European metro and long-haul fiber operator with owned backbone, wavelengths, Ethernet, and colocation services. Closely mirrors TON's wholesale-plus-enterprise model, only at pan-European scale rather than FL-A-CH focus.
- Init7 (Hibernia/IP-Plus): Swiss independent fiber and IP-Transit operator running its own backbone with AS 13030, offering dedicated Internet access, wavelengths, and colocation. Closely comparable to TON in operating model — independent, Swiss-anchored, fiber-owning, carrier-grade services for enterprises and resellers.
Regional players
- CIPHER / Lightnet (Swiss fiber wholesalers): Independent Swiss fiber wholesalers offering dark fiber, wavelengths, and carrier services to operators and ISPs. Conceptually similar to TON's wholesale arm but positioned primarily as a wholesale-only carrier rather than also serving retail enterprise customers.
- dataglobal / Heris Technologie (regional fiber operators in Vorarlberg): Austrian regional fiber and ICT providers serving Vorarlberg and adjacent markets, comparable to TON's Vorarlberg footprint for enterprise connectivity, dark fiber, and colocation. Similar size and regional focus though primarily serving Austrian customers.
- Green Datacenter / Green.ch: Swiss data center operator offering colocation, managed services, and cloud connectivity to enterprise and SME customers. Overlaps TON's colocation and Direct2Cloud product lines in the same Swiss/Liechtenstein enterprise market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Total Optical Networks financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Total Optical Networks leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Total Optical Networks funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Total Optical Networks M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Total Optical Networks
What does Total Optical Networks do?
Total Optical Networks provides managed fiber-optic connectivity, dedicated internet access, dark fibre, colocation, SD-WAN, multicloud connectivity, and DDoS protection for enterprises and institutions across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg (Austria). All services run over TON's proprietary 2,800+ km fiber backbone and are bundled with 24x7x365 Direct2Tech premium support that connects customers directly with an on-call engineer.
Is Total Optical Networks a public or private company?
Total Optical Networks is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Total Optical Networks founded?
Total Optical Networks was founded in 2000. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Total Optical Networks based?
Total Optical Networks is headquartered in Sankt Margrethen, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does Total Optical Networks make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Managed Network Services (Business Connect, SD-WAN, Business Internet) is the primary driver. The others are housing and Colocation, dark Fibre and WDM Services, smart Metering Transport (T-SMTP) and wholesale Bandwidth and Connectivity.
Who are Total Optical Networks's main competitors?
IXs / DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Sunrise / UPC Switzerland (Liberty Global) and Swisscom. RETN is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Colt Technology Services, euNetworks Fiber Infrastructure and Init7 (Hibernia/IP-Plus). Regional players are CIPHER / Lightnet (Swiss fiber wholesalers), dataglobal / Heris Technologie (regional fiber operators in Vorarlberg) and Green Datacenter / Green.ch.
Does Total Optical Networks have an API?
No public API is recorded for Total Optical Networks.
What industry is Total Optical Networks in?
Total Optical Networks's product category is Fiber-optic telecommunications and managed network services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAIACAC, Fiber-to-the-Premises/Building (FTTP/FTTB) Operators, with a secondary code of HDABALAH, Backbone & Long-Haul Transport (IP/MPLS, Optical/Wavelength). Its NAICS code is 517111 and its SIC code is 4813.