Managed Network Services

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Sprint Managed Network Services(SM) remove your voice and data network headaches, letting you focus on what you do best: your business.

The Managed Network Service (MNS) process begins during the initial service planning stage when Sprint assesses your network considering both your wide area network (WAN) and your local area network (LAN). We then compare the findings with network-management and network-integration options. After Sprint implements your overall network solution, we provide ongoing lifecycle support for day-to-day management, leaving you free to concentrate on mission-critical initiatives.

The Sprint MNS lifecycle includes:

• Service initialization
• Monitoring and management
• Fault isolation management
• Equipment maintenance

Let's look at each in more detail.

Service initialization

Sprint understands that all networks, like businesses, are not alike. Considering such variety, the service-planning phase proves critical in getting your managed network services up and running. To ensure your solutions match your business, Sprint begins each MNS engagement by completing the following tasks:

• Consultation—Sprint first conducts a thorough needs analysis that considers your near-term and long-term business goals, your current network configuration, applications, and transport methods.
• Design—Sprint considers both your WAN and LAN needs. We determine the services, equipment, and networking functions needed to meet your company's networking requirements.
• Engineering—We design a site-by-site implementation-level design, including site diagram, customer premises equipment (CPE) configuration files, and test and tune-up procedures.
• Implementation—The project plan identifies and tracks all major activities, milestones, and deliverables. All Sprint-managed solutions include installation support of Sprint-certified managed network devices, software, modems, and additional customer premises equipment.

Monitoring and management

Sprint proactively maintains and manages your LAN/WAN connections 24 hours a day, every day of the year. To optimize your network, we track and analyze real-time performance statistics taken at 90-minute intervals. Sprint continually monitors the WAN and network equipment, including the router/switch/hub LAN interface, network and equipment status, and stability. The service also includes problem isolation, identification, and resolution.

With MNS, you receive the information you need, virtually whenever you need it. Improve network reliability for your entire enterprise with tools like:

• Proactive alarm notification—Let Sprint identify, respond to, and address your network's problems, if they occur, 24x7, 365 days a year.
• Real-time performance reporting—Reporting lets you make informed adjustments to boost performance.
• WAN monitoring—Focus on the things you do best, your core competencies, while Sprint focuses on what we do best: supporting and optimizing your network.
• Server and application monitoring on the LAN—If you require monitoring beyond the WAN, Sprint offers a flexible service that includes your own equipment and software.
• Web portal—View online asset databases, device performance, and change requests, plus view trouble ticket status.

Fault isolation management

You need not spend time chasing down trouble tickets through multiple contacts and vendors because the Sprint Managed Network Service Center (MNSC) acts as your online single point of contact for any potential network maintenance issue. Sprint processes all issues orderly and swiftly in the following manner:

• Trouble ticket is opened when a network alarm occurs or a customer calls
• Troubleshooting isolates the problem
• Problem is resolved through Sprint engineers or service provider dispatch
• Customer is notified with status reporting and resolution tracking

Fault management lets users report, monitor, and track alarms and events affecting their services. With fault isolation management, Sprint has your network covered.

Equipment maintenance

Sprint maintains your equipment 24x7. Both you and Sprint reference a complete database of network assets to effectively manage equipment and maintain visibility into your network.

Sprint offers and supports equipment and corresponding software from leading vendors, including Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Marconi, and ADC/Kentrox. In addition, Sprint offers FRAD (frame relay access device) and ISDN equipment, as well as hubs. Most equipment can be purchased, leased, or rented—greatly reducing costs. Sprint also supports existing customer equipment (at current software levels, if the equipment is currently Sprint-supported).

With Sprint, you even have the choice of same-day service or next-day service on a per site basis, because each of your locations may have different support needs.

MNS options: Choose from prepackaged and custom solutions

No matter what size your business or its unique networking needs, managing data network connections and equipment should not take time away from boosting profits. That's why Sprint offers a range of services and bundles including:

• Managed CSU/DSU (channel service unit/data service unit)
• MNS small and medium business (SMB) bundle
• MNS multi-ranch
• Express
• Custom

Whatever your demands, Sprint customizes a solution to meet your specific requirements.

Managed CSU/DSU

Managed CSU/DSU service explicitly monitors and diagnoses local loop problems. With managed CSU/DSU service, you exploit network equipment potential without investing in sophisticated management tools. So, if you inherit multiple networks from multiple carriers in a merger or acquisition, Sprint manages those devices too.

Sprint offers two service levels. Both levels provide asset management and proactive notification of up/down status, going beyond the existing Sprint Frame Relay(SM) and Sprint ATM(SM) reporting and monitoring services.

Level one service

• Installation and initialization of intelligent CSUs/DSUs
• Project management for service deployment
• Proactive WAN monitoring and alarm notification
• Trouble isolation and tracking to resolution
• Automatic dispatch to maintenance/transport provider
• SLA validation¹

Level two service

All the level one features, plus:

• Performance reporting for capacity planning, including link-layer reports, access-channel usage reports, congestion reports, network protocol activity, Visual Burst Advisor, and executive level reports
• End-to-end SLA validation for availability, throughput, and roundtrip delay
• Near real-time reports on device availability, response time, and asset management²

¹Terms and conditions apply.

²Real-time reports are available with certain special customer arrangements.

Small and medium business bundle

Managing data network connections and their equipment steals time away from other business priorities. For businesses with 10 sites or fewer, this low-cost bundle from Sprint and Cisco Systems provides management of all the network, equipment, and WAN devices you wish.

Sprint offers two service options to customers seeking managed solutions including:

Level one service

• Equipment installation and network initialization
• Project management for service deployment

Level two service

All the level one benefits, plus:

• Multiple services delivered using a single Cisco CPE router platform with an upgrade path from frame relay to IP VPN (virtual private network)
• Cisco equipment rental
• Device configuration management
• IP-protocol WAN
• Sprint equipment same-day maintenance
• Round-the-clock network monitoring
• Sprint Web portal for checking network status, submitting change requests, tracking trouble tickets, network component information, and performance reports

Multi-branch

Does your network stretch over a large geographic area? Do you need local technical support? Launching and maintaining an extensive frame relay or IP network drains a company's technical staff. When you outsource network device management to Sprint, we get your new sites up quickly, providing peak network performance and expanding your technical resources coast to coast.

The new, competitively priced multi-branch offer from Sprint provides exceptional functionality. For example, Sprint:

• Supports both Cisco Systems and AdTran technology
• Provides one of the industry's most powerful Web portals for customer transactions and reports
• Supports other carrier transport

This special low, multi-branch pricing is available to organizations with 150 or more similarly configured network sites.

The multi-branch offer bundles both routers and management services, simplifying vendor management on your end. Our comprehensive offering includes:

• WAN/LAN device monitoring
• Infrastructure equipment monitoring
• WAN/LAN fault and configuration management
• Server and application monitoring
• Proactive alarms, notification, and escalation
• IP/IPX protocol support
• Performance reporting
• Onsite equipment maintenance

MNS express

Our Cisco-certified MNS specialists develop and implement your overall network strategy. The support, however, doesn't stop there. We provide ongoing support for day-to-day domestic LAN/WAN management. Flexible and comprehensive, Sprint MNS express service provides transport-independent network management solutions with industry-leading SLAs.

MNS express features include:

• Multi-vendor solution that supports Sprint and/or third-party transport
• Network device configuration, archive, and restore service
• Domestic site support connected via frame relay or IP transport
• Monitoring and administration of routers and switches

In addition, you run and view comprehensive reporting through our interactive Web portal. The range of reporting benefits include:

• Availability—Review current outages of devices, circuits, locations, and summaries by day or week
• Trouble tickets—Open trouble tickets, review most critical trouble tickets, and check on daily and weekly resolution summaries
• Performance overview—See performance by device type, time frame, and graphical depictions for historical and real-time statistics.
• Change requests—Open change requests and track details
• Asset management—View Sprint-monitored production assets including routers, circuits, and applications

MNS custom

With Sprint MNS custom, we tailor a unique network management solution to ensure your mission-critical network performs and is available to meet your business needs.

MNS custom features include:

• A dedicated support team
• Customized SLAs (covering performance, responsiveness, and operations)
• Specialized devices and/or transport support
• Engineering and design services
• Individualized alarm thresholds
• Professional services

No matter what your network configuration, Sprint Managed Network Services backs you up.

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