WAN & Telecom Services

Internet Access & Capacity Planning

Semi-annually the bandwidth utilization of the Internet access services are reviewed and reported, along with a recommendation for change as applicable. This includes a review in the client environment that would have visibility to upcoming changes in the organization that would impact Internet access beyond the current situation.

WAN Performance & Capacity Planning

Semi-annual WAN review and recommendations. In addition, the following characteristics are reviewed for compliancy to ensure the client’s applications are adequately supported:

• Port Availability at 99.99% availability
• Packet Loss at 99.9%
• Latency at <40-50 ms one way within ethernet network
• Packet Jitter at <30 ms
  

PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) Facility Review & Traffic Studies

As the PSTN is the means by which the outside world is often reached, whether it is a local or long distance call, ensuring the right technologies (analog trunks, Centrex, PRI, SIP, tie lines, etc.) is important and in the correct amount.

PSTN Access Medium: Once a year the changes in usage volumes and applications are reviewed, and expert guidance provided.

CO (Central Office) traffic study: Once a year, a one-week duration traffic study is provided. This tells us how much traffic is on every voice facility. The report will show the quantity needed to achieve a P.01 grade of service, meaning one busy per one hundred call attempts is considered acceptable. Such a study from the Telco CO is the only way to accurately gauge this as a PBX or private phone system has no way of knowing how many call attempts are hitting a busy condition; once a circuit is busy, the PBX has no way of measuring additional attempts on the same circuit at the same time.

Long Distance Rate Plan Optimization

Annually a review is done of all intrastate, interstate and calls outside the US. Likewise on any toll free services in place. These statistics are compared to the in-place long distance plan to ensure the current rate plan is being optimized. If a less costly alternative is available, a recommendation is provided.

Maintenance Contract Review

Annually the PBX inventory and repair records are reviewed for accurate PBX maintenance quotes, both from the vendor for the break/fix support, and the manufacturer specific to software support. The costs for each are presented along with the correspondent asset management records.

Governance & Security

In addition to the reporting noted above, Telecom & WAN Management also places client-based controls in the client environment. As a minimum, the following would be implemented and would apply to both CPE and network related resources:

1. No orders for new service would be accepted by any 3rd party/vendor unless the requesting agent or client employee was on a pre-approved list with the 3rd party/vendor.
2. No orders for service changes or deletions would be accepted by any 3rd party/vendor unless the requesting agent or client employee was on a pre-approved list with the 3rd party/vendor.
3. Trouble reporting and associated escalations remain the responsibility of the client.