How to Get the Most out of Your SMARTnet Plan

A Cisco SMARTnet service plan is much more than a regular product warranty. Your Cisco SMARTnet service contract goes above and beyond a regular product warranty by giving you much needed access to a wide range of skilled Cisco technical assistance resources and online self-help tools to assist you in quickly resolving network issues. Cisco Certified engineers can give you advanced installation and deployment support over the telephone or web chat—or both—to get your corporate network up and running in the minimum possible timeframe. Cisco SMARTnet contracts also give you access to ongoing software updates so that you always possess the newest and most dependable software versions available.

Here are some tips to get the most out of your Cisco SMARTnet service contract:

1. Register your Cisco SMARTnet service contract immediately. Before you are able to begin use of your service contract, you must register it. Make sure to have any registration code numbers or passwords that you have been given before you initialize the registration procedure. Once your SMARTnet service contract has been registered, you will be able to get technical support whenever you require it.

2. Join Cisco’s online support community. Go to the Cisco’s online support communities on a regular basis to keep yourself abreast and on top of the latest industry trends and expert advice. You will often be able to fix basic troubleshooting and installation problems by asking the Cisco experts directly.For example, the Cisco Small Business Support Community encourages collaboration and sharing best practices between Cisco experts, partners, and clients who are in the know regarding small business networking issues. Simply post your query on the forum; most of the support problems are fixed the same day.  Also, you can open a new ticket request—and check the status of current service requests—by using the service request tool online.

3. Reach out to Cisco’s live technical assistance. In case you require live technical assistance from Cisco, highly trained Cisco engineers are ready to help you get up and running in the shortest possible time. They can assist you in resolving networking, troubleshooting, and installation problems. Please make sure that you have your service contract information ready before contacting Cisco.

4. Ask for remote control. In case an issue or installation is taking too much time to resolve, you can request a Cisco support engineer to take over by allowing them remote control of your device. With your consent—and while you are watching—the Cisco engineer usually will quickly remediate the issue by checking the device settings and configuration. You can also request the Cisco engineer to explain to you what he’s doing as he goes along so you can understand for future reference.

 To speak to our Cisco SMARTnet Specialists, please click here.

Manage Complex Networks with Limited Resources via Cisco SMARTnet

With the advent of IoT we are finding that we have an abundance of network susceptibilities, with too Little Time and Resources required for a successful transition and with so market competitiveness at stake if we fail to innovate and adapt.

A renowned research and development (R&D) firm forecasts that there will be in excess of 28 billion connected devices installed by the year 2020, while another R&D entity predicts that nearly 4.9 billion connected devices will be functioning in 2015, up 30% from the year 2014, and will reach the pinnacle of 25 billion by the year 2020.

One good instance of an industry which is transitioning to meet this opportunity is the retailing industry. You must have observed the revolution in your day to day shopping experience — whether it’s appropriate matching of merchandises to your individual profile and inclinations or in-store product or pricing evaluations using your mobile device.

But transitioning into the revolutionary digital retail environment powered by the Internet of Things will not happen without some major risks. New interconnectivity also raises the alarm of new security vulnerabilities. For the normal network administrator, a main security problem like the Heartbleed virus can rapidly transform itself into a severe case of heartburn for your organization. What is the nature of the susceptibility? Which devices will be affected? How should I react? If you associate these queries with the daily routine demands of directly provisioning end-users, replying to technical queries, fixing network problems, writing scripts, generating reports, screening and monitoring systems and administering version controls, it’s not shocking that a corporate network operations management team can be overcome. And this is before the increasing connectivity trend powered by the Internet of Things. 

Rapidly identifying security threats among millions of interconnected network devices is extremely difficult, if not impossible using the old style technologies. But identifying pertinent security threats has conventionally been a time-wasting, manual procedure further complicated by the fact that even if an alert has been identified, a network administrator then has to identify the particular, affected devices on his company’s corporate network to safeguard them against risks. Now, multiply this issue with the blitzkrieg of IoT devices.

The Simple Answer: Automated Visibility Gives you Deeper, More Accurate Network Awareness for Enhanced Lifecycle Administration

For many companies these days, the answer to the problem of improved network protection is Cisco Smart Net Total Care. The SMARTnet service can spontaneously reach out over a network of tens of millions of Cisco devices and give you thorough information regarding each piece of hardware. This data can then be filtered by prevalent product security alerts to generate a customized Product Alerts Report for each impacted device sorted by hardware, software, field notices, IntelliShield, and PSIRTs. Cisco recently combined SMARTnet abilities with Cisco Smart Net Total Care. The enhanced Smart Net Total Care service gives you even more distinguished services to assist network support operation management teams identify troubled hardware devices and undertake preemptive steps to remedy real or possible issues. In this manner a network administrator can put away the Prilosec he has been taking regularly for his heartburn. Not only has he saved valuable time and more efficiently managed IT assets, more importantly he has assisted in the protection of his corporate network from interference. And the company is now ideally positioned with a process in place to scale their future security responses to the explosion of the IoT era.

The Significance of a “Force Multiplier” 

Another great instance of how deeper network comprehension is assisting IT companies more effectively administer their networks is a Cisco customer who is one of the largest window manufacturers in the United States. They lacked the capability to easily identify end-of-life Cisco hardware and ensure vital support coverage. The organization’s leanly staffed IT team resorted to manually sifting through thousands of known security vulnerabilities to find which related to their hardware. This humongous effort wasted valuable time away from their more tactical network management projects.

Smart Net Total Care enables them to simplify their network administration operations by automating the detection of comprehensive network device information, understanding the information using off the shelf/custom reports viewable in an online web based portal, and then taking pre-emptive steps to dodge issues before they happen.

 To speak to our Cisco SMARTnet Specialists, please click here.

Cisco SMARTnet is an Automatic Solution for Network Visibility – Part 1

Disaster preparation can assist you in these kind of situations. But practice drills usually don’t compare to the real thing. To dodge always needing to react to network issues, many companies are harnessing automation to get an increased visibility into their corporate network infrastructure to preemptively administer and rout threats before they occur.

Information is Power

Troubleshooting what troubles your corporate network necessitates you to take stock of your installed base of hardware and find where the issue(s) might reside. Sifting through all your cards and chassis is a difficult proposition, particularly when your only resource can be an Excel spreadsheet of hardware inventory information which was created many months back and is likely to be both out of date and half-finished. How can you be sure of the correct location of the hardware?  And when you do identify the problematic device, do you have access to a history of issues with that particular device, important device specifications and awareness of its Cisco SMARTnet service coverage status?

It is a common practice these days that a lot of people are putting manual procedures behind them and automating their infrastructure operations and functionality. It is a part of an accelerating tendency toward automation of all business procedures. Digitizing the corporate network hardware lifecycle management can allow you the self-assurance to make the correct decisions about maintaining business stability at the correct time and in the right manner. Why take a risk of putting your corporate network at risk when there are pre-emptive solutions to assist you sidestep it?

Corporate network conditions are increasingly dynamic. Incorrect data or the absence of accurate analytics can cause severe business penalties. Therefore, it is vital to be able to easily find comprehensive hardware data whenever and wherever you want on your corporate network.  But valuable information is worth more when it is associated with analytical tools that can sort issues and opportunities in real-time – either at the edge of the corporate network or at its core — so that you can take pre-emptive actions if required.  A truly dynamic corporate network requires both dynamic identification and dynamic analytics.

 To speak to our Cisco SMARTnet Specialists, please click here.

Cisco SMARTnet SMART Call Home Feature

With automatic network hardware monitoring, Smart Call Home animatedly and safely gathers hardware data, forwarding an alarm when any issue is found. Using Cisco logical resources, Smart Call Home can help in early problem finding and resolution of hardware-related bugs via hands-on, rules-based issue resolution. In this way you can drastically make more efficient your hardware upkeep, fast-track issues resolution, and minimize the costs involved in operating your network.

CISCO Call home-enabled hardware devices will constantly monitor their own well-being and instantly inform you of possible problems using secure communication. In case any serious issue occurs, Smart Call Home automatically identifies it and can create a Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) service ticket to resolve the issue. Smart Call Home also gives you access to a Smart Call Home web interface which has tailored Call Home communications, recommendations, and much more for all of your CISCO Call Home enabled devices.

When you are setting up the Call Home profile on your Cisco equipment, you identify the responsible persons in your organization who will receive the alerts, the method in which these messages should be relayed, and what kinds of happenings generate alerts. You can also specify multiple people to be informed: your IT staff, your Cisco Authorized Partner, and/or the Cisco TAC. In case the Cisco TAC is added to your notification list and a critical issue occurs, Smart Call Home spontaneously identifies the issue, creates a Cisco TAC service ticket, and directs it to the assigned team. Smart Call Home identifies the severity of an issue by typical industry classifications. You also have the option to configure the severity of notifications you’d want to be informed about.

For more information on how Cisco SMARTnet and its included Smart Call Home feature can benefit you, please speak to our SMARTnet specialists for expert advice.

Cisco SMARTnet – Operating System Software Support

Value of CISCO SMARTnet OS upgrades for your business

OS upgrades can help your business benefit from new technology innovations, get a greater ROI, and minimize your cost of ownership while remaining competitive in today’s globalized economic world. The cost of buying new OS releases as compared to having them included in your tech support contract can be many times more expensive.

Getting OS upgrades as a part of your SMARTnet contract will minimize your operating costs while giving you a higher ROI. When efficiently deployed, OS updates also assist you in retaining and extending the value of your IT investment. New OS features contained within your licensed feature set will also enable greater network capacity, Advanced security and regulatory compliance along with improved interoperability.

Feature Set Upgrades

A feature set update is basically a separately licensed and priced software release which contains improved configurations and features which give you additional capabilities. E.g. you must purchase the update from the IP Base to Enterprise Base feature set or from IP Base to Advance Security that includes new feature sets for Cisco 12000 Series Routers and Cisco 2800 and 3800 Series Integrated Services Routers. These specific feature set updates will not be included as part of a Cisco SMARTnet or SMARTnet onsite program.

Software Entitlement with CISCO SMARTnet

You will be entitled to all Cisco OS software upgrades within your licensed feature set for covered hardware. This includes OS bug fixes and maintenance along with all minor and major releases. SMARTnet support for Cisco Unified Computing System™ will give you ongoing downloads of BIOS, drivers, firmware and the Cisco Unified Computing System Manager (Cisco UCSM). Like other servers, Cisco UCS® runs an OS supplied by 3rd-party vendors including Microsoft and RedHat.

For further information and assistance with CISCO SMARTnet and software features, please reach out to our CISCO SMARTnet team here.

Cisco SMARTnet Service has merged with Cisco Smart Net Total Care

One of our clients didn’t have the visibility into all of their network devices. Therefore, they found it difficult to identify hardware in their network which had or was about to become End of Life. It was also an uphill task to keep track of their SMARTnet contract renewal dates. Hence they were forced to manually go through hundreds of known security issues to find out the one which was relevant to their hardware.

With Smart Net Total Care, users are able to quickly resolve network issues, reduce the overall operation costs, and better manage support risks. This allows them increased time to focus on business innovation while proactively supporting their network infrastructure.

Advantages of SMARTnet Total Care

The benefits of unifying SMARTnet capabilities with Smart Net Total Care are a game changer and hence cannot be ignored. This new service allows your organization to be more competitive and gives you the ability to provide more expansive and wide-ranging, differentiated services.

You can:

• optimize your lean IT organization

• Adapt your services to better assist your client’s business structure

• Identify security vulnerabilities of your CISCO hardware and find out how to minimize the risks

• Identify gaps in the coverage of your client’s network

• Make value added wraparound services for your company’s clients

The benefits of SMARTnet Total Care Service are assured as these capabilities were already included with the Partner Support Services (PSS) and partners have attested that they have been able to build highly successful service practices by leveraging these capabilities in their branding strategy.

To find out more info and for pricing/availability about Cisco SMARTnet Total Care Service please reach out to a SMARTnet professional today.

Cisco SMARTnet: The Technical Assistance Center – CISCO TAC

Features of CISCO TAC

• Expert assistance: To supplement your in-house tech resources, the Cisco TAC gives you access to a team of highly trained CISCO engineers who offer you years of networking knowledge, with many customer support engineers having networking and CCIE® certifications as well as CISCO R&D (Research and Development) engineers. Cisco TAC engineers possess in excess of 800 U.S.-issued patents and have published a large volume of industry white papers and reference books.

• Quicker Resolution: The Cisco TAC access included in SMARTnet ensures CISCO is constantly monitoring your satisfaction and ensuring time-to- resolution tracking. This includes an automatic escalation system starting one hour after submittal of severity 1 and severity 2 issues, and ultimately resulting in CEO intervention by John Chambers after 48 hours for any severity 1 problem.

• 24/7 Visibility of your issue status: CISCO TAC access ensures you are kept up-to- date on all the latest developments in your case via email notifications and tailored handoffs between you and Cisco engineers in the event your case merits a move to a new specialization because of the nature of the problem, or a change occurs in the assigned work shift.

• Networking knowhow: The Cisco TAC team gives you 24/7 access to a depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of Cisco hardware and OS software, along with information at your fingertips regarding a wide variety of networking environments and equipment. All Cisco TAC engineers possess a minimum of 5 years of industry experience, and Cisco ensures continuous training to ensure the TAC engineers stay current with the latest technological advancements.

• 24/7/365 Support in multiple languages: Via the phone, web, or email, the Cisco TAC will always be there whenever you need it!

• Verified and established resolution techniques: Cisco uses a dominant virtual lab as an irreplaceable engineering resource and knowledge base for analysis of network issues and recommended fixes.

For more information on how Cisco SMARTnet can benefit you please speak to our SMARTnet specialists for expert advice.

Cisco SMARTnet service Versus Other Service Offerings

It also allows you to download software upgrades for your Cisco hardware. Finally, in case of any issues with the hardware itself, Cisco can replace the unit partially or wholly, this can be either on the next day or within 4 hours of the fault report. Cisco is extremely efficient with their SMARTnet service contracts and this is the key to their success.

We have some clients who have had support service contracts with Lucent and Nortel, but the support provided by them shows that they found these to be extremely frustrating as compared to Cisco’s SMARTnet customer experience. A survey of clients from various industries ranging from government, academic institutions, Small to Medium sized businesses (SMBs) and multinational organizations (MNCs) with a huge global presence in different countries has shown that the feedback from Cisco SMARTnet clients is extremely positive and these clients have stated that they feel more secure due to the quality of expedited service they are getting from Cisco. Cisco has an enormous global footprint which allows them to make sure that they can have replacement units sent out to your site in any country and also if required send expert Cisco engineers to your site to help in troubleshooting, replacement, deployment and whatever else is required to get your network up and running in no time.

All Cisco new equipment is sold with just a 90 days limited warranty. By getting SMARTnet for your hardware you will get access to Cisco support for a longer period of time and give you the peace of mind that your network is in good hands.

DC Supplies strongly recommends Cisco’s SMARTnet service to our valued clients and would love to share more information with you to help you make an informed decision. Please contact us here to speak to Cisco SMARTnet professional.

We would love to hear your experience with support from your current vendors!

Cisco SMARTnet – Advance Hardware Replacement

Cisco Responsibilities:

• Same Day Shipping/Next Business Day Delivery: An Advance Replacement will be shipped on the same day to arrive at your location on the next Business Day as long as both your call and Cisco’s analysis and determining of the abortive Hardware has been made before 3:00 PM Depot Time. For tickets after 3:00 p.m. Depot Time, the Advance Replacement will be shipped out on next Business Day.

• 8x5x4: Advance Replacement on a 4-Hour Response base between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Depot Time the same Business Day, if Cisco has determined Hardware failure before 1:00 PM Depot Time. If the End-User files a ticket after 1:00 PM Depot Time, Cisco delivers the Advance Replacement on the morning of the next Business Day.

• 24x7x4: Advance Replacement parts on a 4-Hour Response 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, including Cisco-observed days off.

• 24x7x2: Advance Replacement on a 2-Hour Response basis 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, including Cisco-observed days off.

End-User Responsibilities:

The providing of these service options provides that the End-User must:

• All calls must provide a Priority Level as per the Cisco Severity and Escalation Guideline

• Reasonable access to the faulty hardware through an internet connection at End User’s expense so Cisco can establish a data communication link between the End User and the Cisco TAC engineer. Also, you must share any system passwords to help the TAC engineer fix the issue remotely if possible

• In case you need to add additional people to your End User Equipment List, you must give Cisco 30 days’ notice

• If you must move your Cisco equipment to a different location, you must notify Cisco of this relocation within 30 days. This is because Cisco will give you services only 30 days after receipt of your intimation of hardware relocation. In case you do any product upgrades/product modifications/upgrades/changes to FRUs you must inform Cisco of these within 5 days of the modification.

• You need to give Cisco your current shipment information e.g. contact name, title, physical address, contact #, e-mail address and fax #.

• Give Cisco the serial #s for all your hardware which is having issues. Cisco may additionally ask you for more information about where your hardware is located.

• You must give Cisco a list with the details of the people in your organization who are authorized to contact Cisco and access Cisco.com for services and software downloads. You are responsible for updating this authorized personnel list with Cisco on an annual basis.

• In case Cisco fails to troubleshoot your failed hardware down to the FRU level, you must initiate the RMA procedure to send back the hardware to Cisco as per their RMA Policy.

• Whenever you need to return the hardware to Cisco, you are responsible to ensure that the returns are in proper packaging, mentioning the reason of failure and any specs related to modifications made by you. You must return the faulty equipment within 30 days, otherwise Cisco will charge the replacement product at their current price list.

Make sure you test all repaired/replacement products and report any issues to Cisco within 10 days of receiving the repaired/replaced hardware.

For more information on CISCO SMARTnet and advance hardware replacement, pls speak to a SMARTnet specialist today.

 

Cisco SMARTnet – Online Self-help support and Tools

Cisco’s SMARTnet includes a TAC service request tool, MyCisco tailored online assistance, and wide-ranging troubleshooting tools.

SMARTnet Online Support Resources

  • Software downloads –You get all the latest updates, new patches, and new releases of Cisco software.
  • Software Advisor – Choose suitable software for your network equipment by matching software features to the Cisco OS software releases, comparing Cisco OS software releases, or finding software releases that are supported by your hardware.
  • Bug Toolkit – Find software bug fixes quickly based on the version and associated feature sets.
  • TAC case collection – Interactively identify common issues involving hardware, configuration, and performance issues with resolutions supplied by CISCO TAC engineers.
  • Error message decoder – Find descriptions of console error messages listed in the Cisco Software System Messages guide.
  • Command Lookup Tool – Find detailed descriptions of your particular Cisco OS software, Cisco Catalyst, or ASA commands
  • Output Interpreter – Get prompt troubleshooting analysis and plan your course of action for your router or switch using the collected show command output.
  • Technical documents – You get access to 90,000+ technical documentation, e.g. product and technology integration documents of Cisco and third-party equipment along with troubleshooting guides and release notes.
  • TAC Service Request Tool – Via Cisco’s TAC Service Request Tool, you will be able to minimize the time spent in filing and tracking your service requests.
  • Peer-to-peer online forum – A peer-to-peer online forum will give you the access to share queries, recommendations, and info with other networking professionals.
  • MyCisco – A tailored web portal, “MyCisco,” will help you find the info you need in one place, tailored to your network, like new software releases, latest bug reports and repairs, and troubleshooting tools.
  • Cisco Technical Services Newsletter – You will get this newsletter which will alert you to new technical tools, resources, and SMARTnet subscriber exclusive networking tips on a monthly basis.

Please click here to speak to our dedicated SMARTnet specialists today.