ORLANDO--Virtual network operator Vanco has unveiled a Web portal through which service providers and enterprise customers can gain rapid access to broadband pipes and guaranteed bandwidth on a global basis.

Vanco NetDirect provides extensive DSL access to Internet services as well as Multi-Protocol Label Switched core networks, provided by Vanco’s 650 global networking partners and now easily provisionable through the Vanco portal.

“It is real-time,” said Allen Timpany, chief executive officer of Vanco, in an interview here. “We believe this will enable us to scale more rapidly. This is the only Web portal with a massive choice of telecom infrastructure behind it.”

The access to the portal is free to registered users, who can check out prices on a real-time basis for business-class DSL access between any two points, said Timpany, who believes the telecom industry is overdue for this kind of portal.

“In all the other fields--cars, books, music--you can go online and get access to competitive pricing,” he said. “It is archaic that the industry that brought you the Internet doesn’t have this kind of portal.”

The portal provides ease-of-use by allowing Vanco customers to enter site locations and service requirements such as circuit type, bandwidth required and Class of Service and then view prices available for global locations. Customers can place orders through the portal as well as track network performance.

Vanco’s 650 network partners have 7000 MPLS points-of-presence, Timpany said. While other wholesale service providers offer Web portal pricing, they generally only include their own physical facilities, he said.

Vanco is building on 18 years of relationships with its network partners, which have enabled it to bring a level of automation to this portal that Timpany believes is unique. Where it isn’t possible for Vanco to have an electronic interface to a network partner, for example, the company has moved to “a super low-cost manual process” by incorporating much of the partner’s information onto its own servers.

“The majority of our partners are still manual, it’s just a reality of the market right now,” he said.

Vanco has been doubling in size every two years, Timpany said, and expects that growth rate to increase.

“We really think this is a telecom revolution,” he said.