I’ve Got a Cisco Service Contract – Now What?

In part one of our Now What? series, we’ll be addressing the question – I’ve got a Cisco service contract, now what? – with our first blog on Cisco’s TAC (Technical Assistance Center) support.

Cisco’s TAC is a wonderful resource designed to assist Cisco partners and customers with a variety of tasks, from helping you troubleshoot issues associated with your Cisco product to assisting you with returning a defective Cisco product.

Here are a few of the most-asked questions we’ve received…and their answers:

Q: How can I access Cisco Technical Support?
A: Visit the Cisco Technical Support Website at www.cisco.com/techsupport, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The site contains a wealth of tools and documents for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues associated with Cisco products & technologies. A CCO username & password are required to access most of the information.

Q: How do I submit a service request?
A: For minor issues, the best way to submit a request is through the online TAC Service Request Tool at www.tools.cisco.com/ServiceRequestTool/create/. For major issues where your network is down or severely degraded, contact Cisco TAV via telephone (1-800-553-2447 in US). For both online or phone cases, you will need to provide: service & support contract number and product serial number, network topology and explanation, output from show tech command (if applicable or available), description of problem and symptoms, and software versions & types of equipment.

For more information about Cisco’s TAC support, including severity designations, what you can expect when you create a service request, how you can track your service request, a listing of frequently accessed tools, and more, visit Cisco’s Technical Support Overview page at http://www.cisco.com/tacpage/news_training/tac_overview.html.

Straight Off the Presses – Earn Big Bucks with Cisco’s Accelerate Program

Cisco Services Accelerate Training and Incentive Program jump-started a new campaign year by introducing new Advanced Learning modules and revamping the individual rewards system. Training modules are easy to use, and give partners a way to beef up their Cisco services knowledge AND give out some cool rewards for time invested.

Learn and earn by participating in one or all of the following:

• Fundamental Track – Top 200 participants based on highest cumulative score will receive $100 cash gift card.
• Intermediate Track – Top 150 participants based on highest cumulative score will receive $200 cash gift card.
• Advanced Track – Participating partner representatives can receive a $400 cash gift card if they are among the first 50 participants who complete and pass the CSEP (Cisco Service Expert Program) online test.
• BONUS – Take and pass the new Selling Value with Cisco Services for Fixed Switching Products; the top 50 participants based on highest score will win a $50 cash giftcard.

And that’s just the beginning! For more information about Cisco’s Accelerate Program or to register for the program today visit www.cisco.com/go/accelerate.

ScanSource VoIP Assessment Offering Now Available

Is your customer’s network an open highway or a congested rush-hour? Are they really ready for a VoIP solution?

VoIP assessments are an essential step for projects involving converged voice and data. Studies show that “85% of today’s router-based data networks are not ready for successful VoIP deployment.” – Gartner Group

Utilizing VoIP assessments significantly improves the implementation sucess rate to 94%, and also helps to identify potential network issues and reduce unforeseen costs for project overruns and post-production troubleshooting. Prepare your customer for a successful VoIP solution by utilizing the ScanSource VoIP Assessment!

For more information, visit the ScanSource Professional Services page, or contact your ScanSource dedicated Sales Representative at 1-800-944-2432.

Featured Products – Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series Switches

This week, ScanSource is featuring the Cisco Catalyst 3560 series switches. We’ve got very competitive pricing on these units, so please give your ScanSource sales representative a call today for availability and pricing.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series is a line of fixed-configuration, enterprise-class switches that include IEEE 802.3af and Cisco pre-standard Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality in Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet configurations. These are ideal access layer switches for small enterprise LAN access or branch-office environments. Combining both 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for maximum productivity and investment protection, they help you deploy new applications such as IP telephony, wireless access, video surveillance, building management systems, and remote video kiosks.

The configurations for the 3560 series include:

• WS-C3560-8PC (8 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE and 1 dual purpose 10/100/1000 and small form-factor pluggable (SFP) port; compact form-factor with no fan)
• WS-C3560-24TS (24 Ethernet 10/100 ports and 2 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560-48TS (48 Ethernet 10/100 ports and 4 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560-24PS (24 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE and 2 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560-48PS (48 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE and 4 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560G-24TS (24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560G-48TS (48 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560G-24PS (24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports with PoE and 4 SFP ports)
• WS-C3560G-48PS (48 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports with PoE and 4 SFP ports)

For more information on the 3560 series switches, check out Cisco’s 3560 page.

Cisco’s PIX515E Series End of Support & Migration Info

Cisco has announced the end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for the PIX515E security applicance series. Here are some of the highlights of Cisco’s EOL/EOS annoucement and where you can go for more information.

Highlights of the Cisco EOS/EOL annoucement –
End-of-Sale Date – July 28th, 2008
End of New Service Attachment Date – July 28th, 2009
End of Service Contract Renewal Date – October 23, 2012
Last Date of Support – July 27th, 2013

Migration Recommendations –
Cisco PIX Security Appliance customers are encouraged to migrate to Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances. Built on the same software foundation as Cisco PIX Security Appliances, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series offers more robust firewall and IPsec VPN capabilities, as well as many additional benefits, including:

• Significantly better performance and scalability,
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN support (including clientless, portal-based remote access),
• Advanced Unified Communications (voice/video) security
• A modular design that allows you to add features such as intrusion prevention (IPS), anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and URL filtering

For more information about end-of-life, end-of-support, or migration parts for the Cisco PIX515E series, please visit Cisco’s site at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5708/ps5709/ps2030/end_of_life_notice_for_the_Cisco_PIX_515E_Security_Appliance.html

For more information on the ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Applicances, check out http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6120/index.html.