Not all technology is created equal—and not all businesses run on the same rhythm. Some demand raw computational power; others crave lean, efficient systems fine-tuned to their exact workloads. Off-the-shelf servers may hum along just fine—until they’re asked to juggle AI inference, real-time analytics, or multi-region collaboration without dropping the ball. That’s when cracks show. True operational performance doesn’t come from stacking hardware; it comes from aligning infrastructure with intention. Custom IT systems are no longer a luxury—they’re what separates companies that run from those that fly.
That’s where Jan Franc comes in. What started as a high school passion project—an experimental data hub built from curiosity—has evolved into ANAFRA, a company trusted by thousands to design, deliver, and support IT infrastructure that actually fits.
Teen Tech Enthusiast to Purpose-Driven Leader
Jan’s journey with ANAFRA began long before the company was officially founded in 2006. As a high school student, he was fascinated by peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and started running a Direct Connect hub from his home PC. The hub quickly attracted a community of individuals interested in electrical engineering. As the network grew, Jan succeeded in moving the server to a data center in Prague, gaining access to backbone connectivity and expanding their services to include mail hosting and web development.
It was at a community meetup in 2001 that Jan met Jiří Rohlíček, who would later become his co-founder at ANAFRA. The company emerged from the merger of the two hubs they were operating, eventually becoming one of the largest in the Czech Republic and ranking among the top ten in Europe.
At the outset, there was no grand vision of building a major company. For Jan and Jiří, it was simply a shared passion. They registered an LLC out of necessity—to handle invoicing and manage operational and investment expenses. By 2007, they began hiring their first employees, and by 2025, ANAFRA had grown to a team of over 100 people.
This growth brought a new set of responsibilities. Jan acknowledges that leadership today requires more planning, a focus on profit margins, and a strategic mindset—very different from the informal, early days. Still, his core approach hasn’t changed: he remains committed to doing his job well and surrounding himself with people who are enthusiastic about the field and find purpose in working at ANAFRA.
Jan firmly believes that when employees are fulfilled—both professionally and personally—they will naturally perform well and deliver excellent service to customers. He strives for mutually beneficial relationships with both employees and business partners, grounded in trust and respect. He values open feedback, listens to ideas, and works to create a supportive, enjoyable workplace. When challenges arise, Jan doesn’t shy away—he tackles them directly, always searching for solutions. Through this approach, he aims to lead by example and inspire his team to do the same.
Strengthening ANAFRA’s Global Footprint
In 2010, ANAFRA reached a pivotal milestone when it became the only official system integrator for Supermicro in the Czech Republic. This distinction opened new doors, allowing the company to attract a wider range of clients—particularly those grappling with the same server infrastructure challenges Jan and his team had faced in their early days. With a growing reputation and experience in delivering successful projects abroad, the ambition to explore international markets began to take shape.
A major enabler of this growth was the implementation of the Helios Orange Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, adopted in 2010 when the company was still relatively small. Despite the modest size of the team at the time, Jan recognized the long-term value of investing in robust internal systems. The ERP platform would go on to play a crucial role in supporting ANAFRA’s rapid and structured expansion across regions.
The company’s U.S. presence, for example, was born out of a unique opportunity. A technician who had been assembling servers in ANAFRA’s Rožnov pod Radhoštěm facility announced his intention to return to the U.S., his home country. Instead of letting him go, Jan and the team saw potential in the moment. They offered him training in sales and business operations, ultimately appointing him as the U.S. Branch Manager. This move reflects Jan’s philosophy of fostering mutual growth with employees—empowering individuals while strengthening the company’s global footprint.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
With nearly two decades of experience in IT infrastructure, Jan understands that staying relevant in the fast-paced tech world requires constant evolution. ANAFRA actively invests in continuous learning for its team—through targeted training, participation in events by global hardware leaders like Supermicro, GIGABYTE, ASUS, and more, and regular attendance at international trade shows. The insights gained from these experiences are shared internally, creating a culture of peer-to-peer learning that fuels innovation across the board.
Jan also emphasizes the importance of cultivating team spirit as a driver of innovation. Collaboration and shared purpose keep the company agile and responsive to new developments. ANAFRA also engages with high school students, valuing the fresh perspectives and ideas they bring—especially around emerging technologies.
Under Jan’s leadership, the company embraces the kaizen philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement. From refining work processes to enhancing service quality, every team member is encouraged to contribute to ANAFRA’s ongoing progress.
Client-First Approach to Server Technologies
ANAFRA’s technology strategy is driven by one principle: prioritizing the customer’s specific needs over any single vendor. Jan believes that every client’s situation is unique, and the company’s job is to find the solution that fits best—whether that involves Supermicro, ASUS, ASRock Rack, MiTAC, Gigabyte, or a combination of technologies.
There are generally two types of customers, according to Jan. Some have long-standing relationships with ANAFRA and already favor certain brands for their distinct parameters. Others come in without a brand preference but bring clear expectations in terms of budget, availability, and technical requirements. In either case, Jan and his team act as solution architects—matching needs with the most effective, reliable, and scalable technologies.
Vendor neutrality, then, isn’t just a policy—it’s a commitment to delivering tailored results that put the client’s goals first.
Growth, Automation, and a Human Touch
Delivering over 2,000 physical servers each year and supporting more than 5,000 cloud infrastructure customers is no small feat—and Jan is clear that none of it would be possible without the dedication of his team. To sustain high levels of service and customization as the company scales, ANAFRA continues to grow its workforce strategically, ensuring that employee capacity aligns with customer needs.
In parallel, Jan drives efforts to streamline and automate operations wherever possible. Whether in supply chain management or internal workflows, efficiency is continuously refined through automation and AI-powered analytics. These advancements not only support scalability but also preserve the level of personalized service that ANAFRA is known for.
A Home for the Future
For years, ANAFRA excelled in hardware solutions, but Jan and the team recognized a growing need to strengthen their services arm. To expand meaningfully in this direction, they needed their own space—not just to accommodate an expanding team, but also to gain full control over their service delivery infrastructure.
The decision to build ANAFRA’s new headquarters in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, complete with a Tier III data center, marked a transformative moment. With this move, ANAFRA was able to consolidate services that were previously scattered across external data centers in Prague and Brno. The result? Greater control, better adaptability, and a service model more closely aligned with both their internal standards and client expectations.
For customers, this centralization translates to reduced costs, increased responsiveness, and more accessible, locally delivered support. The data center has become a cornerstone of ANAFRA’s cloud and hosting strategy—one built on reliability, performance, and proximity.
Beyond the Cloud Giants
In an industry dominated by hyperscale giants like AWS and Azure, Jan doesn’t view these platforms as direct competitors. Instead, he sees ANAFRA’s private cloud as a compelling alternative—especially for customers who value transparency about where their data is stored and prefer localized support.
What sets ANAFRA apart is its highly personalized approach. While the company offers a wide-ranging portfolio of hardware and cloud services, Jan insists that the human element remains central. From pre-sales consultation to after-sales support, the focus is always on understanding each customer’s unique needs and delivering tailored solutions.
When issues arise, ANAFRA doesn’t rely on automated scripts or distant help desks. The team takes a proactive, problem-solving stance, ensuring that each client feels supported and valued. For Jan, this individual attention is not just a differentiator—it’s the foundation of ANAFRA’s long-term success.
Around-the-Clock Support Across Borders
To support ANAFRA’s extended warranties and 24/7 responsiveness, Jan has developed a flexible and region-specific service model. In Central European countries that are within driving distance, ANAFRA provides Next Business Day (NBD) service. In broader European markets, the company acts as an official service partner for Supermicro, offering local expertise and responsiveness. For regions where ANAFRA doesn’t have a direct presence, the team provides assistance via hotline, and services are handled through cross-shipment or other pre-agreed methods.
As demand grows, Jan continues to invest in the expansion of ANAFRA’s hardware service team, along with increasing the number of software and infrastructure technicians available on-call. This ensures that customers—regardless of location—receive timely, effective support whenever they need it.
Balancing Standardization with Custom Solutions
Jan is clear about ANAFRA’s value proposition: it lies in their ability to deliver tailor-made solutions rather than one-size-fits-all packages. Every client receives a solution that’s designed to meet their unique needs, drawing from ANAFRA’s extensive experience but never relying on pre-baked templates.
That said, Jan acknowledges the importance of a certain degree of standardization. Without it, customization can veer into complexity that becomes unsustainable. The key, he believes, is to strike a thoughtful balance—ensuring that solutions remain both effective and manageable. Ultimately, what matters most is that each solution genuinely works for the client it was built for.
Building Culture and Connection Across Borders
With more than 100 employees spread across Prague, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Katowice, Trnava, Budapest, and Norfolk in the U.S., maintaining a cohesive culture might seem like a challenge—but Jan has built ANAFRA on shared values from the start.
Even during recruitment, the company seeks out individuals who resonate with ANAFRA’s philosophy and long-term vision. This alignment in mindset ensures that whether an employee is in Central Europe or North America, they are part of a unified, mission-driven team.
Despite the rise of digital collaboration tools, Jan continues to emphasize the importance of personal interactions. The team regularly visits one another, and the company hosts bonding experiences such as team-building events, holiday parties, and even casual breakfasts. These moments of connection help reinforce a strong culture that transcends borders—one rooted in shared goals, mutual respect, and a collective sense of purpose.
Kaizen Principles Leading to Commercial Solutions
At ANAFRA, continuous employee development isn’t just a value—it’s a foundational part of how the company operates. Jan emphasizes that upskilling the team is essential in an industry defined by rapid change. The goal isn’t solely to solve one-off client problems, but to create a culture where new knowledge is constantly applied to improve everyday work, streamline internal processes, and fuel the company’s broader growth.
A prime example of this philosophy in action is the development of FixPoint, a facility management app born out of necessity during the construction of ANAFRA’s new headquarters and Tier III data center. The team needed a smarter way to track the progress of reconstruction work and coordinate with contractors. What emerged was a simple, powerful tool based on a ticketing system that allowed tasks to be mapped directly onto building plans, tracked in real time, and updated via a mobile app by on-site workers.
FixPoint quickly proved its value—not only to ANAFRA, but to the contractors themselves, who became the app’s first paying customers. Today, FixPoint is used by a growing client base to manage everything from renovations to municipal infrastructure. By first solving their own challenge, Jan’s team created a commercial product that now helps others save time and reduce project costs. It’s a clear demonstration of how investing in people pays off in innovation, efficiency, and customer success.
Vision for the Next Tech Leap
Looking ahead, Jan sees artificial intelligence as the driving force behind the next major shift in the IT landscape. At ANAFRA, this is more than a prediction—it’s a strategic focus. Over the past two to three years, the company’s hardware portfolio has increasingly centered around graphics cards and accelerators, once associated primarily with gaming and high-performance computing. Today, those same technologies are becoming the backbone of AI infrastructure.
Recognizing this shift, Jan is leading ANAFRA toward building deep expertise in AI hardware and software. The objective is clear: to become a trusted advisor and solution provider for organizations looking to build or scale AI-ready infrastructure. Whether it’s right-sizing GPU clusters or guiding clients through the complexities of AI software environments, ANAFRA aims to deliver the kind of hands-on, practical know-how that sets them apart in a fast-evolving field.
As always, the focus remains on understanding the customer’s needs and staying ahead of the curve—something Jan and his team have consistently done by blending technical excellence with a forward-looking mindset.
