sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sunflash@suntri sunflash-Send requests and problem reports to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunSpectrum CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROGRAM SunFLASH Vol 54 #2 June 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54.02 SunSpectrum CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROGRAM SMCC announces new breakthrough in customer support called SunSpectrum Support. Four program levels ranging from total business support to backup telephone and replacement part services for self-maintainers: Platinum,Gold,Silver,Bronze ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ************************************************************************* * * * - SMCC announces new breakthrough in customer support called * * SunSpectrum Support * * * * - Four program levels ranging from total business support * * to backup telephone and replacement part services for * * self-maintainers: * * - Platinum * * - Gold * * - Silver * * - Bronze * * * * - SunSpectrum includes several new, innovative features: * * - client-server, systems support covering hardware, * * software, network application and interoperability * * - Customer-Defined Priority Setting * * - EarlyNotifier * * - Personal Technical Account Support & Onsite Reviews * * - Self-Paced Education Library * * - Training and Onsite Coaching Service * * - Platinum's 99% Server Uptime Guarantee * * - and more... * * * * - Simplified pricing structure: * * - a single fee covers an entire system * * - easiest contract administration in the industry * * * ************************************************************************* Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) has reinvented support! Today, SMCC Worldwide Customer Support introduces SunSpectrum(SM) support which is a completely new worldwide service and support program. We call the offering SunSpectrum for its ability to meet our customers' full scope of service needs. SunSpectrum supports client-server environments from high-end servers to low-cost workstations--an enterprise-wide solution. And it has the industry's most flexible, yet streamlined ordering and pricing policies, which can dramatically reduce contract administration time for both Sun and Sun customers. Full Range of Services ---------------------- The SunSpectrum support program evolved from interviews with hundreds of Sun(TM) customers from all over the world. They told us they wanted a complete, "systems" solution. As a result, SunSpectrum takes a comprehensive approach to support, covering not just hardware, but software, network application and interoperability. The following four levels of support, Platinum(SM) program, Gold(SM) program, Silver(SM) program, and Bronze(SM) program, are offered in a building-block fashion ranging from total business support to backup telephone and replacement part services for self-maintainers. Platinum program: Platinum is Sun's premier service offering which is specially designed for those customers with mission-critical environments that require high system availability and cannot afford disruptions with their operations. The Platinum program is also ideal for customers in transition, such as those rightsizing to a client-server environment. Platinum replaces SunService 2000(SM) which was announced in November 1992. Gold program: While the SunSpectrum Gold program provides complete onsite and telephone support, it focuses on enhancing the effectiveness and productivity of your customer's staff by providing value-added services such as training and personal technical support. The Gold program is perfect for customers looking to maximize their investment in computing. Silver program: The Silver program is Sun's cost-effective onsite and telephone product support. This program will address your customers' basic, remedial support needs. Bronze program: The Bronze program is a highly affordable solution for those self-sufficient customers who primarily need back-up telephone assistance and hardware parts replacement. Bronze support is an excellent offering for a customer with a skilled technical support staff. Industry's Easiest Pricing and Administration --------------------------------------------- With SunSpectrum support, pricing administration is simple. A single fee covers support for an entire system including the monitor, all disk drives, Sbus cards, memory and other related hardware, as well as Solaris(R) operating system software enhancement releases, and phone support for Sun software packages. In the past, each of these elements had a separate, unique price. A single price means that if your system configuration changes while covered on SunSpectrum (for example, you add memory, disk drives, S-Bus cards, etc. during your contract period) your system price remains the same! To illustrate how simple it is to generate a contract, consider this. Under SunSpectrum, pricing is simplified from over 100,000 possible pricing permutations to less than 200! This makes your life simple. Customer can greatly shorten the time needed to administer their support contract. Feature Summary --------------- Here is a summary of service features found in the SunSpectrum Program. Feature Platinum Gold Silver Bronze ------- -------- ---- ------ ------ Unlimited Telephone 7x24 7x24 8-8, M-F 8-5, M-F Assistance for Solaris and most* Sun unbundled products Onsite Response 7x24 8-8, M-F 8-5, M-F Customer-Defined yes yes yes Priority Setting: - Urgent--system unusable (phone/ live trans.**/ live trans./ live trans./ 4 hr. onsite) 2 hr. 4 hr. 4 hr. - Serious--system seriously impaired (phone/ 2 hr./ 2 hr./ 2 hr./ 4 hr. onsite) 4 hr. Next Day Next Day - Non-Critical-- general inquiry (phone/ 4 hr./ 4 hr./ 4 hr./ 4 hr. onsite) cust. conv.*** cust. conv. cust. conv. Remote Dial-In yes yes yes yes Analysis Replacement H/W onsite onsite onsite Courier, Parts technician technician technician 2 busin. days Solaris Enhancement yes yes yes yes Releases Access to Patches & yes yes yes yes Maintenance Releases SunSolve(TM) License yes yes yes yes EarlyNotifier(TM) yes yes yes yes Service 7x24 Telephone yes yes Option Coverage 7x24 Onsite yes Option Option Coverage 2-hour Onsite yes Option Option Response Self-Paced yes yes Option Education Library Personal Technical yes yes Option**** Account Support Onsite Technical Quarterly Semi-Annual Option**** Support Reviews Technical Support yes Plan 99% Server Uptime yes Guarantee Training & Onsite 15 days/yr. Coaching Unbundled Software Option Option Option Option Enhancement Releases Notes: ------ * Unlimited telephone assistance for Sun Ada requires purchase of the Sun Ada Unbundled Software Enhancement Release option ** "live trans." is live transfer *** "cust. conv." is customer convenience **** these options are only available as a combined offering of Personal Technical Account Support and Onsite Technical Support Reviews. Key Feature Definition and Benefits ----------------------------------- Feature Benefit ------- ------- Telephone and onsite assistance - supplies Sun expertise in UNIX(R) and open systems - minimizes customer's involvement in support Customer-Defined Priority Setting: - provides flexibility to The customer defines their own set the priority of a problem priority (Urgent, Serious, problem and get the Non-Critical) and Sun responds response time desired accordingly. For example, an "Urgent" priority for an unusable system gives customers a "live transfer" which means Sun immediately connects the customer with the first available Engineer Remote Dial-In Analysis: - increases system uptime by If customer elects to give us providing valuable infor- access, Sun Engineers can mation for resolving examine their systems remotely to critical problems expedite problem resolution Replacement H/W Parts - leverages customer's repair expertise Enhancement releases and access - keeps customer up-to-date to patches & maintenance releases with the latest software advances - optimizes workstation performance SunSolve License: Extensive database of support - offers 24-hour access to solutions, common questions & Sun's support answers answers, and technical bulletins EarlyNotifier Service: - maximizes uptime by Periodic online notices about proactively alerting key problems or bugs just customers of a solution discovered before they experience a problem Self-Paced Education Library: - helps customer's staff Valuable end-user and system become operational and administration training products productive faster including SunTutor(SM) multimedia - furnishes helpful reference and video/workbook courses tool and skim-review - maximizes return on investment Personal Technical Account Support: - promotes productivity of A customer is assigned a special team staff through personalized of Sun support personnel who are service familiar with their account, handle - helps prevent problems calls, and provide proactive services before they occur at tailored to their account like problem customer site trends, bug and patch information Onsite Technical Support Reviews: - one-on-one with Sun support Complete technical review of account personnel to maximize including review and discussion of effectiveness of your outstanding technical issues and computing environment recommendations on how to increase overall system productivity 99% Server Uptime Guarantee: - maximizes uptime If a Sun core server is not operating 99 percent of time because of a technical problem, Sun will refund applicable monthly maintenance fees. Limitations apply. When the customer combines this service with Sun's high availability software, they can attain an even higher percentage uptime! Training and Onsite Coaching: - increases productivity of 15 days of training and/or onsite employees training covering a variety of - provides predictable cost topics. Coaching is customized stream for effective to meet the customer's unique needs budgeting and is delivered at their site. Training occurs at Sun training locations. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS --------------------- Q. why buy a support contract at all as the hardware is holding up pretty well on its own ? A. SunSpectrum covers a lot more than just hardware. Downtime might result from a hardware crisis but could also result from a software, networking application or interoperability snag. SunSpectrum support is unique because it offers a system solutions approach to support. That means we help you determine whether you have a hardware or software problem and then we find a solution for that problem. SunSpectrum support's broad solutions approach lets Sun customers maximize their investment in Sun equipment while minimizing downtime and supplying peace of mind that help is always available. Often, without a support contract customers are likely to end up paying much more on a time and materials basis than they would for one of SunSpectrum support's cost effective service offerings. In addition, a support contract can keep customers current with the latest revisions of software. Q. You keep mentioning that SunSpectrum support includes "network application and interoperability" support. What do you mean by that? A. Network application support includes telephone support for our SunLink(R) networking products such as SNA-PTP, CG3270, PC-NFS(R) distributed services, and others. Interoperability support means that we will provide you with telephone assistance for problems with Sun workstations as they interact with other vendors' equipment. This does not mean that we will solve other vendors' problems, but we will work on any Sun problem as it relates to other vendors' equipment. This network and interoperability commitment is very important to our customers. Q. Do SunSpectrum offerings replace our current Traditional Services like AnswerLine(SM), Personal AnswerLine, Software Update Service, Same Day Hardware Support, Next Day Hardware Support, Onsite Service Center, and CARS Hardware Support? A. Yes. In time, all of our customers will transition from our existing Traditional Service portfolio to SunSpectrum. Q. What if I want software support only? Do you offer that? A. Yes. If needed, both software and hardware only support offerings are available. See your local service manager for details. AVAILABILITY ------------ Worldwide availability of SunSpectrum support will be in a phased implementation with programs currently available in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. SunSpectrum support programs will be available in other major countries by the end of 1993. Specific program features and coverage hours may vary by country. Please check with your local Sun service manager for details of the SunSpectrum programs in your area. US PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ----------------------------------- SunSpectrum pricing and ordering information is available from your local service manager. Please contact them to obtain all details. (c) 1993 Sun Microsystems, Inc Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, Solaris, SunSolve, EarlyNotifier, SunTutor, SunLinks, and PC-NFS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSpectrum, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, SunService 2000, and AnswerLine are service marks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. DEC is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. HP is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.