Network architecture
Design and build of backbone and data centre networks. MPLS backbones with BGP and OSPF across multiple countries, and EVPN/VXLAN fabrics in the data centre, with a strict split between underlay and overlay.
Engineering you can understand.
Vuurstorm designs, secures and runs ICT environments. Networks, security and Linux, based on more than twenty years at service providers. From a single server to an autonomous network.
Services
Five areas of work, built on more than twenty years at service providers, hosting companies and data centres.
Routing and internet registry
BGP routing with transit providers and peers, and the registry side at the RIPE NCC: LIR membership, route objects and ROAs. Including the consolidation of several AS numbers into one.
Network security and DDoS protection
Segmentation, firewall policy, IPsec VPNs and load balancing, and DDoS detection and mitigation at network level. Security as part of the design, not a layer on top.
Linux, hosting and virtualization
Linux and BSD servers for web hosting and applications: web servers, databases and containers. Virtualization, configuration management as code, monitoring and automation in Bash and Python.
Consultancy and technical leadership
A second opinion on a design, help with an outage nobody can pin down, or interim technical leadership for your team. Based on experience as a CTO and as lead of international engineering teams.
How I work
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Open source first
Where possible I build on open software: inspectable, replaceable and free of vendor lock-in.
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Reachable when it counts
You don't report an outage to a ticket machine. You talk to the person who knows your environment.
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Built to grow
Every environment starts small and grows along. I design for the next step, not just for today.
Since 2006
Vuurstorm has existed since 2006. In 2026 the practice returns: different technology, more experience, the same promise.
Services
ICT questions can be complex, complex enough that you lose sight of the trees for the woods. I set up your environment and keep it running, from a single server to a backbone spanning several countries.
Network architecture
The network is the foundation of your IT environment: when it stops, everything stops. I design and build networks that stay predictable under pressure, from a single site to a backbone spanning several countries.
In the backbone that means MPLS with BGP and OSPF on a solid underlay, with redundant paths and predictable convergence. In the data centre I build EVPN/VXLAN fabrics that make L2 and L3 available across the whole network without relying on spanning tree. Everything dual-stack with IPv4 and IPv6. The result is a documented network that you keep understanding, five years from now too.
Routing and internet registry
If you hold your own IP space and AS number, you decide how your network behaves on the internet. I set up BGP sessions with transit providers and peers, with routing policy that steers traffic the way you want and filters that stop mistakes from spreading.
The paperwork is part of the job: LIR membership, route objects and ROAs at the RIPE NCC. Has your network grown out of acquisitions or legacy structures? I have merged five AS numbers into one before, and I plan that kind of consolidation step by step.
Network security and DDoS protection
A secure environment is not a product you buy but a process you keep running. I design segmentation and firewall policy, connect sites with IPsec and publish applications safely through load balancing and application firewalls.
For networks with their own IP space I set up DDoS detection and mitigation based on traffic analysis, so an attack is recognised and filtered before it fills your links. I have also built high-security data centre environments for government, financial institutions and healthcare. I bring that discipline to every environment.
Linux, hosting and virtualization
Most of the services you rely on run on Linux. I set up servers on the common Linux distributions, or on BSD where it fits. From web servers and relational databases to containers and virtualized platforms.
Configuration management as code makes every server reproducible, and anything that happens more than once, I automate in Bash or Python. With monitoring you see what is happening before your users do, and capacity planning keeps you clear of limits. I have run data centres and more than a hundred dedicated servers. That experience shapes how I set up an environment.
Consultancy and technical leadership
Sometimes the problem is not the technology but the overview. I review existing designs, analyse hard-to-find outages down to protocol level and help with capacity planning and choices for the years ahead.
As a CTO and as a global engineering lead I have led teams across several countries, set engineering standards and delivered projects together with stakeholders. I put that experience to work when you need interim technical leadership, or when your team wants to grow in knowledge and ways of working.
Sound familiar?
Looking for knowledge or support for your environment, or planning to expand, migrate, rebuild or start over? Describe briefly what you run and what you need.
About Vuurstorm
Vuurstorm has existed since 2006, facilitating ICT environments: networks, virtualization and Linux, built around open source.
The practice
Vuurstorm designs, secures and runs ICT environments. The practice works on network environments, virtualization platforms and Linux servers, and chooses open source software where possible: inspectable, replaceable and free of vendor lock-in. That choice is not dogma but a rule of thumb — whoever knows the parts can also replace them.
The name dates back to 2006. Over the years the practice grew along with its trade, from the first Linux servers and hosting environments to autonomous networks spanning multiple locations. That experience sits in every design I deliver today: choices that work now and scale tomorrow.
The approach is fixed: an environment that is documented, automated where possible, and operated by someone who knows it. Uptime, security and service — the promise the name carries — are not a slogan here, but the daily routine.
Looking back
- 2006
Vuurstorm starts as a hosting and ICT practice.
- 2013
First phase complete: networks, virtualization and Linux at the core of the practice.
- 2026
The relaunch: the same promise, built to today's standard.
News
Short posts about what is being built and what changes.
Vuurstorm is back
After more than ten years the site is online again, built with no tracking and no cookie banner. The content is refreshed: the services are described as they stand today and the story since 2006 is on the About page.
The old 2013 site stays reachable through the Wayback Machine, archived where it belongs.
The last posts from that era
Between 2011 and 2013 this page carried collected posts on security and privacy, such as driver vulnerabilities and safe online banking. Those old posts survive in the archive and are not republished here.
Contact
A question, an environment that needs to grow, or something that is down today? Email is the fastest route.
Send a message
You will get a reply within one business day.
What helps in your message
- What you run today: servers, network, hosting.
- What needs to happen: build, migrate, operate or rebuild.
- The timeline, if there is a deadline.
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Questions
If you have a question about this statement, email info@vuurstorm.nl.