Text Box: Page 7 ň Return to Page 1 Text Box: STC LINES—July 2005 Text Box: In order to compare these offers it is suggested that you request either T&M estimates or customized quotes for full preventive maintenance. Technical Assistance Technical assistance and help desk support is usually included in mainte-nance offers but two of our respondents had additional charges. One charged for non-site specific calls (calls which required a knowledge of the site’s configuration) and another had a help desk charge for all calls. To include these offers in a TCO analysis you would have to estimate your costs based on previous types and volumes of help desk calls. Designated technician service at the provider’s help desk is usually an optional service for an additional charge. Three of the respondents in our exercise included it as part of their package charge and two did not offer it. Again, ask for a custom quote and include it in the TCO. If it is not available, use an option charge from another provider. National Account Service Manager support was included at no extra charge in two respondents’ offers and was offered as an extra fee element by the others. If you need this support, be sure to obtain price quotes from all providers to include in the TCO analysis. Business Continuity Support Configuration backup is another service element which some respondents included in their base charge and others offered for an additional fee. One respondent did not provide it. If this is important you may end up paying a third party to perform this work. Therefore, the cost of such service should be estimated based on price quotes from other provi-ders and included as a cost for the res-pondents who did not offer it. Some respondents offered emergency replacement of the PBX within 24 hours as part of their maintenance contract. Others offered less robust services. While the cost of not being able to do Text Box: Power Protection Only one respondent in our exercise offered power surge and lightning protection, and they included it as a bundled element (at no extra charge). If this is important at your locations, ask the other res-pondents for a custom quote and add it to their costs. Multi-Vendor Coordination Multi-vendor troubleshooting and isolation has many hidden T&M charges. Some respondents provided this using an uplift charge but others provided a limited amount of support at no extra charge and then applied T&M charges for any work over the limit. Some included coordination work in their basic charge but then applied T&M charges if asked to isolate a problem. This can be tricky to compare, but one way to do it is to assume a specific number of such instances (and durations) each year and apply each respondent’s T&M rates to develop a total cost. Network/Telco coordination offers varied from inclusion in the basic price of the maintenance contract, to an extra charge (which would be automatically captured in the TCO) to being available, but only on a T&M basis. As in the situations described above, these charges would have to be estimated based on experience and added to the TCO analysis. Preventive Maintenance All of the respondents in our exercise, except one, included preventive maintenance in their basic maintenance contract (one did not offer it all), but the functionality varied considerably. Our RFP required both remote maintenance (capacity checks) and on-site support. Two provided both of these functions and the remainder provided either remote or on-site but not both.

business far exceeds that of a system and its maintenance contract, the likelihood of this happening is small. Depending on your business you may want to include a cost for those respondents with less robust objectives or just make a point of noting the differences in objectives.

Summary

      Converting diverse responses into a comparable set of financials may be tricky, but it’s worth the effort because it enables you to:

¨ Provide a more accurate estimate of all costs over the planning period.

¨ Know your total costs for each offer, resulting in improved negotiating leverage.

      Readers who have questions or are interested in obtaining additional information may contact Ken Dolsky at kdolsky@accessintel.com.

Weighing IP Phone System Proposals on a TCO Scale  (From Page 5)

providers, the Commission did not solve the problem or take a position  whether VoIP is a “telecommunica-tions service" or an “information service” as defined by statute. 

      The FCC ultimately concluded that because of the essential nature of public safety with respect to VoIP providers, speedy regulation of this issue is necessary.  Other important legal issues related to VoIP implementation will be addressed in a subsequent and pending IP-Enabled Services docket.  Whether VoIP and other packet switched services are ultimately deemed to be telecommunications or information services could be decided in the Commission’s ongoing IP-Enabled services rulemaking proceeding.

Legal & Regulatory Update

Continued From Page 4