How to Stop Network Outages Cold — Before They Happen

Transcription

How to Stop Network Outages Cold —
Before They Happen
Network outages don't happen because of carelessness —
they happen because you don't have the right tools to stop
trouble the moment it starts.
This essential guide details what alarm monitoring tools you
need to fight network outages and win.
If you've ever been burned by a network outage — or you suspect you're vulnerable — you need to read this White Paper.
Version 1.0
Released June 7, 2005
www.dpstelecom.com
•
1-800-622-3314
“We protect your network like your business depends on it”TM
Why Should You Come to
DPS Telecom Factory Training?
Hands-on training in network alarm monitoring, taught by professional engineers.
DPS Telecom Factory Training is a fast, intense, 4-day crash course on the essentials of network alarm monitoring. You’ll learn real-world telemetry fundamentals — knowledge that will save you hours of work and make
your monitoring much more effective.
“This training is worth a lot more because it’s taught by the people who actually
work with the system, not some corporate trainer.”
—Larry Hamilton, U.S. Telepacific
Personal Instruction in a Friendly Atmosphere
Anyone who’s attended a DPS Factory Training Event will tell you it’s not like any other training course. Here’s
the difference:
• Personal instruction in small classes: Classes are capped at nine people, so your instructor can focus on
you. If you want to spend more time on a topic, your instructor or a DPS engineer will be happy to meet with
you in a one-on-one breakout session.
• Learn from engineers with real-world experience: Your DPS instructors are skilled engineers who have
worked on DPS product design and field implementations. They know your equipment and how you use it.
• Work hands-on with real-world equipment: At a DPS Factory Training Event, you’ll work directly with
the equipment — and you’ll get the unique know-how that only comes with personal experience.
• Complete access to DPS Telecom: You’ll talk to the engineers who design DPS equipment, tour the
factory where it’s built, and see the latest DPS products. If you’ve got a suggestion on how we can improve
our products or services, we’ll listen to you — and act to meet your needs.
• Friendly, welcoming atmosphere: The entire DPS staff will make you feel welcome. Hosted lunches and
dinners will give you a chance to casually unwind with your classmates. You’ll be able to share telemetry
tips and experiences, and you’ll get to know people you can relate to. Come to Fresno a day or two early and
you can explore the splendors of nearby Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks
• Free tuition: If you’re a qualified telecom professional, there’s no charge to attend a
DPS Telecom Factory Training Event — that’s a $475 value. Call 1-800-622-3314 or go to
www./dpstelecom/com/training and secure your place today — classes are small and they fill up quickly.
1-800-622-3314
www.dpstelecom.com/training
2
How to Stop Network Outages • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstelecom.com
How This White Paper Will Help You
How This White Paper Will Help You
In telecom, no technology is infallible, and equipment failures are a fact of life. All the same, a network outage
feels like a slap in the face.
Network outages aren’t caused by negligence — they’re caused by not having the right information and the right
tools to manage your network correctly.
This White Paper is a quick, introductory guide to how network alarm monitoring will give you the tools to fight
network outages and win.
Contents
What Do You Do After a Network Outage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Learn Alarm Monitoring the Easy Way: Attend DPS Telecom Factory Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
You Can’t Stop the Causes of Network Outages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
You Can’t Even Stop Outages Caused by Your Own Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What You CAN Do to Stop Network Outages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
You Can Stop Network Outages Only If You Have the Right Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Here’s a Common Example of How Lack of Information Turns a Minor Equipment Failure into a Serious
Network Outage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
So What Are You Going to Tell Your Bosses? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Let DPS Help You Survey Your Network — A Free Consultation at No Obligation to You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Comprehensive Monitoring Saves Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What RTU Features Do You Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
DPS Telecom Remote Site Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
How to Select What to Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7 Critical Alarm Monitoring Features You Must Have . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
This RTU Grows with Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Alarm Master Choice: T/Mon NOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Why You Need to Work With a Vendor You Can Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DPS Telecom Won’t Let Your Fail — or Your Money Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
What to Do Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DPS Telecom’s Sales Department: Monitoring Consultants Who Put You First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
© Copyright 2005 DPS Telecom
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this white paper or portions thereof in any form without written
permission from DPS Telecom. For information, please write to DPS Telecom 4955 E. Yale Ave., Fresno, CA 93727-1523
1-800-622-3314 • [email protected]
Printed in the U.S.A
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What Do You Do After a Network Outage?
When your company depends on its telecom network, a network outage is a body blow. Everybody feels it.
Customers complain. Bosses are angry. Most of all, the pressure comes down on you, because it’s your job to
keep the network up.
It’s bad enough that you came to work on Monday and found out the network’s been down since early Saturday
morning. It gets even worse AFTER the initial problem is fixed.
You might feel like a hero. Even though it took hours of overtime, you identified the malfunctioning widget that
caused the problem, repaired it, and got the network back online.
But the next day, the bosses call you in and they want to know: How did this happen? What are you going to do
to stop it from happening again?
Well, what ARE you going to do?
You Can’t Stop the Causes of Network Outages
The fact is, you can’t stop the problems that cause network outages. Richard Kuhn of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology did a landmark study of the causes of telecom network outages. He found that 75%
of all network outages are caused by factors totally outside your control.
Here’s how that figure breaks down. Half of all network outages are caused by things nobody can prevent: natural disasters, equipment failures and network overloads. Another 25% of outages are caused by people from
outside your company, either by vandalism or simple human error — like that genius contractor who dug up
your fiber with a backhoe.
You Can’t Even Stop Outages Caused by Your Own Company
That means that only 25% of all outages are caused by human error by personnel within your company.
Theoretically, this is a factor that you — or someone in your company — should be able to control. But in reality, you can’t guarantee that other people won’t make mistakes.
Kuhn cites a number of in-house human errors that cause network outages: mistakes in cable maintenance, power
supply maintenance, facility maintenance, hardware maintenance, software patching, software version control
and data entry.
Learn Monitoring the Easy Way: Attend DPS Telecom Factory Training
“DPS Factory Training is a big help in not feeling intimidated by your network monitoring
system. It’s excellent — presented in the right way and tailored to the needs of the class.”
— Bill Speck, 3 Rivers Telephone
Learn network alarm monitoring in-depth in a totally practical hands-on class. The DPS Telecom Factory
Training Event will show you how to make your alarm monitoring easier and more effective. You’ll learn SNMP
alarm monitoring, ASCII alarm processing, Derived Alarms and Controls, and how to configure automatic email
and pager notifications. DPS training is the easiest way to learn alarm monitoring, taught by technicians who
have installed hundreds of successful alarm monitoring deployments
For dates and registration information, call 1-800-693-3314 today or go to www.dpstelecom.com/training.
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11% - Network Overload
11% - Natural Disasters
1% - Vandalism
24% - Human Error from Outside Your Company
14% - Software Failure
25% - Human Error in Your Company
19% - Hardware Failure
Only 25% of the causes of network outages are even theoretically under your control
Your company can mandate best practices in all these areas. The entire staff can diligently follow these practices
to the best of their ability. People are still going to make mistakes that can cause network outages.
What You CAN Do to Stop Network Outages
The bottom line is, you can’t control random accidents, acts of fate or what other people do — and these are the
things that cause unexpected network outages.
The only thing you can control is how you and your staff respond to the problems that cause network outages.
And to respond effectively to network problems, you’ve got to know what’s happening at your remote sites at all
times. If you can detect network threats as they happen, in real time, you can correct them before they cause a
network outage.
The key tool YOU MUST have to control network outages is an effective alarm monitoring system that
gives you real-time visibility of your network and remote sites.
You Can Stop Network Outages Only If You Have the Right Tools
If you get nothing else out of this White Paper, you must understand this: Network outages aren’t caused by
negligence. Forget all that corporate happy-speak about “redoubling our maintenance efforts.” You’re probably
pretty good at your job — if just trying harder could stop network outages, you would have fixed the problem
already.
If you’re getting beaten up by network outages, the real problem is that you don’t have the right information.
Here’s a Common Example of How Lack of Information Turns a Minor Equipment Failure into a
Serious Network Outage
Loss of commercial AC power is undoubtedly the most frequent cause of remote site failures — but it’s not the
AC failure in itself that triggers the outage.
In most cases, what really caused the outage was the failure of backup power supplies that should have taken up
the power load. It’s the batteries that couldn’t recharge, or the generator that was out of fuel — the small failures
you didn’t know about until the power failure — that was the weak link in the power supply chain.
If your backup power elements had been working right, your network could have weathered an AC failure without incident. If you could have known that gear was in trouble, you would have fixed it before the AC failure
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happened.
Pay attention to this point: An AC failure is inherently unpredictable. Your backup power supply, on the other hand, is something that you can and should regularly maintain. However, you
probably don’t have the manpower or the budget to send somebody to every remote site on a regular basis.
This is where alarm monitoring can make what used to be difficult
very easy to do — and it can make used to be expensive extremely cost-effective.
The right network alarm monitoring system can monitor every part
of your backup power supply at all times. If you want to (and I
highly recommend this) you can even monitor the exact current
level of every battery and the fuel level of every generator.
Without having to pay a guy to go out on rounds every month, you
know exactly how prepared you are for a power failure. And if
anything isn’t working right, you can fix it before a power failure
happens ... eliminating one of the worst threats for a network outage.
That’s just one very common example of how better information
can stop a network outage. Network alarm monitoring can be usefully applied to everything it takes to keep your network running:
transport gear, remote site environments, HVAC equipment and
site security.
If you’ve been having trouble in any of those areas, ask yourself
— would it make a difference if you had timely, accurate information about those systems?
So What Are You Going to Tell Your Bosses?
So what are you going to tell your bosses when they ask you,
“What are you going to do to stop network outages from happening?”
You can look them in the eye and tell them: “Here’s what I can do
to stop network outages ... if I have the right tools to do it with.”
Don’t Fall into This Trap When Planning Your Network
Monitoring
Maybe you’re already totally convinced of your need for more
alarm monitoring — the only question is, how much more?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your most urgent need
is to monitor the equipment that was responsible for your last network outage. If it was a power failure, you’re going to be understandably focused on power issues. And if your transport equipment failed, you’re going to focus on that.
But it’s very important to think of your network and all its component parts as a single whole. And when you’re planning your network monitoring, that means thinking about all your possible vulnerabilities.
Think about everything that can go wrong in your network. And
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Let DPS Help You
Survey Your Network —
A Free Consultation at
No Obligation to You
Determining your
alarm monitoring
needs can be
tough. If you’ve
got a busy job
with lots of
responsibilities,
you don’t have a
Rick Dodd
lot of time to
Director of Sales
evaluate alarm
DPS Telecom
systems and
survey your remote sites.
So why not get help from experts you
can trust? DPS Telecom will help you
survey your remote sites step-by step,
making sure you don’t miss any opportunities to make your network monitoring simpler, more effective — and easier on your budget.
“We’re not your typical sales department,” says Rick Dodd, DPS Telecom
Director of Sales. “We’re design consultants, and a lot of the time we propose solutions that have a smaller sales
volume, if it’s the right solution for the
client.”
A DPS expert consultant can help your
figure out what alarm system will most
effectively meet your needs without
overloading your budget. Our goal is to
help you maximize your return on
investment while minimizing your
expenditure — without pressuring you
to buy a particular system.
There’s no hard-sell sales tactics. No
harassing sales calls. No pressure to
buy. You won’t get any equipment
recommendations until we’ve helped
you plan the right monitoring strategy
for your network.
then think a little bit harder, to make sure that you’re catching
absolutely everything that can possibly go wrong ... because guaranteed, sooner or later, it will. Quite frankly, a little paranoia isn’t
bad here.
(If you need a little help figuring out everything you need to monitor, DPS Telecom offers a comprehensive Remote Site Survey
Questionnaire, free of charge. Call me at 1-800-622-3314 and I’ll
send it to you.)
Comprehensive Monitoring Saves Money
It’s vitally important to monitor your whole network. You can put
out the immediate fire, cover that target so it never threatens you
again ... and then be a sitting duck for another outage caused by
another problem.
Monitoring your network as a whole will protect you better ... and
it will save you money, too. Your monitoring needs are going to
continue to grow with your network. You need an alarm monitoring system that will keep up with you.
If you get locked into a system that can’t monitor everything you
need ... you’re going to have to add another system ... and that creates huge expenses and a confusing collection of screens in your
Network Operations Center.
It’s OK if you want to start small and gradually scale up to a complete system. Look for alarm systems that support an upgrade path
from small-scale to large-scale monitoring. That way you can
cover your immediate needs, you have system that will expand to
What RTU Features Do You Need?
How do you find the right RTU? Here’s 5 essential features
to look for …
1. Discrete alarms: Monitor device failures, intrusion
alarms, beacons, and flood and fire detectors.
2. Analog alarm inputs: Monitor voltage, temperature,
humidity and pressure.
3. Ping alarms: Detect IP device failures and offlines .
4. Control relays: Operate remote site equipment directly
from your NOC.
5. Terminal server functions: Control switches and other
gear remotely via Telnet over LAN.
DPS Telecom offers RTUs that meet all these requirements
— and offer local visibility via Web browser, email and
pager notification, and more.
For more information about DPS RTUs, see us on the Web
at www.dpstelecom.com/rtus.
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DPS Telecom Remote
Site Survey
RTU Capacity and Function
1. How many remote sites do you
need to monitor?
2. Do you want video surveillance at
those sites?
3. Do you want a building access control system to manage entry to those
sites?
4. How many alarm points do you
need to monitor at each site?
5. How much growth, in sites and
alarms at each site, do you anticipate over the next 5 years?
6. Do you need any analog inputs
(e.g., voltage, temperature, humidity, signal strength)?
7. How many ASCII device (e.g.,
switches, routers, etc.) will you
monitor at your remote sites?
Installation
1. How do you currently connect to
your remote sites? (LAN, overhead,
digital or analog circuit, terminal
server, microwave?)
2. Do any of your sites support an
alternate path communications
link?
3. What type of power do you have at
the master and remote sites? (–48
VDC, 110 VAC, other?)
4. How do you want to mount your
RTUs? (23" rack, 19" rack, wall,
tabletop?)
5. Who will install your RTUs?
This is just a small sample of the DPS
Telecom Remote Site Survey. The full
Remote Site Survey is a complete 5page guide to evaluating your network
alarm monitoring needs. For your copy
of the Remote Site Survey, call DPS
Telecom at 1-800-622-3314.
fit your total monitoring needs ... and you won’t have to pay a huge
sum in one budget cycle.
How to Select What to Monitor
In the perfect alarm system of your dreams, you’ll have an alarm
for every single factor that can affect network operations, but
you’ll never spend extra money on alarm capacity you don’t need.
In the real world, time and budget constraints usually mean you
have to set priorities and carefully select which alarms you’re
going to monitor.
When you’re choosing network elements to monitor, keep these
four principles in mind:
1. Paranoia is your friend. Think about everything that can possibly go wrong, because — guaranteed — someday it will.
2. The more detailed your monitoring, the smaller your windshield time and repair costs. Precise diagnostics help you send
the right tech with the right tools on the first site visit.
3. It’s OK to start small and scale up. If you get an alarm system
that can be upgraded, you can start monitoring your most critical network elements now, and gradually add more monitoring over several budget cycles.
4. Plan for your needs for the next five years. Your network and
your monitoring needs will grow, and an alarm system that
can’t grow with them will be obsolete as soon as it’s installed.
7 Critical Alarm Monitoring Features You Must Have
Here’s a list of 7 critical features that your alarm master should
have:
1. Monitor Everything
Like I said, you need to monitor every part of your network —
unmonitored equipment and remote sites are places where you’re
vulnerable to an outage.
This means you’re going to need protocol mediation and multiprotocol support. You probably have several different types of transport equipment to monitor, and you may have several generations
of legacy alarm monitoring equipment as well. All these different
types of equipment report alarms using different incompatible protocols.
You definitely want to have one alarm system that can support all
the monitoring protocols your equipment uses and display all your
alarms on one screen. Trying to monitor by watching two or more
screens is hard work that confuses even the best system operators,
and sooner or later someone will miss a major alarm.
Plus, an integrated system with one simple interface saves training
time and costs.
2.24/7 Unmanned Monitoring via Pager and Email
Notification
Some companies can afford to pay staff to watch a monitoring
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This RTU Grows with
Your Network
When you’re planning your alarm
monitoring, think about the future. You
don’t want to get locked into an alarm
system that’s inadequate for your
future needs — but you don’t want to
spend too much for alarm capacity you
won’t immediately use, either.
The NetGuardian 832A remote
telemetry unit expands its capacity as
your needs change. Install a
NetGuardian at your remote site now,
and get exactly the right coverage for
your current needs.
Then, as your remote site grows, you
can extend your alarm monitoring
capabilities by adding NetGuardian
DX Expansion units. Each
NetGuardian DX adds 48 more alarm
points, and you can daisy-chain up to
three NetGuardian DXs off each
NetGuardian 832A base unit.
Unit
Capacity
Base NG 832
32
1 DX
80
2 DX
128
3 DX
176
screen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and
holidays. Your company probably isn’t one of them.
But not having after-hours notification is one of the biggest ways
you leave yourself open to a network outage. Think about what
will happen if there’s a catastrophic failure at 2:30 AM Saturday
morning, and you don’t find out about it till Monday ... and all
your customers have been without service all weekend ...
But you don’t need a 24/7 staff if your alarm system can automatically send alarm notifications to on-call technicians via pager and
email.
3. Detailed alarm descriptions
Some alarm masters display alarms as cryptic numeric codes. You
want a system that displays alarms in plain English, with a complete description of what the problem is and what action you
should take to correct it.
Alarm detail will really help you dispatch your staff. Let’s say you
get a high temp threshold alarm (meaning it’s over 85 degrees).
You don’t know whether that means it’s 87 degrees or 139. If it’s
only 87, do you really want to send a technician out and pay him
double or triple time to go check it out? Lack of detail will really
work against you, especially for critical power and temperature
alarms.
4. Alarm sorting and categorizing
If your alarm system just shows you one long list of alarms from
your entire network, it’s easy to lose track of critical information.
A quality alarm system can sort and categorize your alarms several different ways, by severity, remote site, equipment type or other
criteria you define.
5. Separate Standing Alarm and Change of State Alarm lists
A Standing Alarm list displays all alarms that are currently uncorrected. A Change of State (COS) Alarm list displays all new events
that happen in your network, including alarm points that go into an
alarm state and alarm points that are cleared. If your alarm master
supports both kinds of view, you have the quickest and most accurate picture of your network’s current status.
6. Nuisance Alarm Filtering
Your equipment might generate a lot of alarms that are merely status reports that require no corrective action. These are nuisance
alarms, and they’re more dangerous than you might think.
Nuisance alarms desensitize your monitoring staff to alarm
reports, and they start to believe that all alarms are nonessential
alarms. Eventually they stop responding even to critical alarms.
Look for an alarm system with tools to filter out nuisance alarms.
7. Expansion Capability
An alarm system is a long-term investment that will last for as long
as 10 to 15 years. So you need an alarm system that will support
your future growth for up to 15 years. In that time your network is
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Alarm Master Choice:
T/Mon NOC
T/Mon NOC has many features to
make your alarms more meaningful,
including:
1. Detailed, plain English alarm
descriptions include severity, location and date/time stamp.
2. Immediate notification of COS
alarms, including new alarms and
alarms that have cleared
3. Standing alarm list is continuously
updated.
4. Text message windows displaying
specific instructions for the appropriate action for an alarm.
5. Nuisance alarm filtering, allowing
your staff to focus its attention on
serious threats.
6. Pager and email notifications sent
directly to maintenance personnel,
even if they’re away from the NOC.
7. Derived alarms and controls that
combine and correlate data from
multiple alarm inputs and automatically control remote site equipment
to correct complex threats.
For more information, check out
T/Mon
on
the
Web
at
www.dpstelecom.com/tmon.
going to grow in size, you’re going to add new kinds of equipment, and you’re going to need new alarm monitoring capabilities. Make sure your alarm master can grow and change with your network.
Why You Need to Work With a Vendor You Can Trust
Putting together an alarm monitoring system can seem deceptively easy — you just look on the Web, find a few
vendors, compare a few features, add some configuration and you’re done, right?
The truth is, developing a network monitoring system on your own is one of the riskiest things you can do. Here
are some of the typical problems you might face if you don’t get expert advice when you’re designing your system:
Implementation time is drawn out: It’s going to take longer than you think. Network monitoring is a highly technical subject, and you have a lot to learn if you want a successful implementation. And anytime you are trying
to do something you’ve never done before, you are bound to make mistakes — mistakes that extend your time
and your budget beyond their limits.
Resources are misused: If you’re not fully informed about your alarm monitoring options, you may replace
equipment that could have been integrated into your new system. Rushing into a systemwide replacement when
you could have integrated can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Opportunities are missed: If you install a new network monitoring system today, you’re committing your company to that system for as long as 8 to 10 years. Many telecoms design what they think is a state-of-the-art monitoring system — and then find that their technology is actually a generation behind.
DPS Telecom Won’t Let Your Fail — or Your Money Back
You’re never taking any risk when you work with DPS Telecom. Your DPS alarm system is backed by a 30-day,
no-risk, money-back guarantee. Test your new system at your site for 30 days. If you’re dissatisfied for any reason, just send it back for a full refund. We don’t want your money unless you’re completely satisfied. It’s that
simple.
What to Do Next
Call or email Rick Dodd at 1-800-622-3314 or [email protected] and ask for a free consultation on your alarm
monitoring needs. Rick will be happy to help you define your specific requirements and answer any questions
your have.
There’s no obligation to buy. You won’t be bothered by high-pressure salesmen. You’ll just get straightforward
information to help you make the best decision about your alarm monitoring.
10
DPS Telecom’s Sales Department: Monitoring
Consultants Who Put You First
“We’re not your typical sales department,” says Rick Dodd, DPS Telecom’s Director of Sales.
“We don’t rush the client. We don’t recommend solutions until we have a good understanding of the
client’s requirements and ultimate goal. We’re design consultants.”
What makes Dodd and his sales staff different is their sincere, no-nonsense commitment to putting
their clients first.
Dodd’s primary goal is making sure you have the right solution to meet your needs — and if that
means a smaller sale, that’s OK with Dodd.
“A lot of the time we propose solutions that have a smaller sales volume, if it’s the right solution for
the client,” said Dodd.
Rick Dodd
DPS Telecom
Director of Sales
“That goes back to the DPS philosophy of creating complete client satisfaction. We customize our
solutions to make it the right fit without the client having to buy a lot of extraneous hardware and software.
“The bottom line is, if you’re not 100% happy with the solution we’ve provided, we’ve done something wrong. My personal promise is that when you order from DPS, you’ll get the exact solution you’re looking for, or you’ll get your money
back,” said Dodd.
The DPS Telecom sales process is a systematic guarantee of Dodd’s promise. With every client, Dodd and his sales staff
follow a standard procedure that’s designed to safeguard the client’s best interests at every step.
Step 1: Consultation
When he first talks to a client, Dodd’s only immediate goal is to determine the client’s real needs, both for the present and
the future.
“First we look the challenges you’re facing right now. What are you currently working with, and why isn’t it working for
you? What are your current solutions shortcomings and pitfalls?
“We have an extensive site survey we work from to understand your network — what equipment do you monitor, what
alarm equipment do you currently have, what protocols and interfaces do you use,” said Dodd.
“But we also look at where you want to be in the future, five or ten years down the road. We want to find out what a perfect long-term system for you would look like. We don’t want to provide you with something you’ll have to re-do two years
from now.”
Step 2: Design
The next step is to design an alarm monitoring application that will serve as a bridge between the client’s current state and
future objective. The goal here, Dodd said, is to create a “perfect fit” solution.
“A perfect fit solution is different for everybody’s application. It might mean visibility of network systems you haven’t been
able to monitor before. It might mean consolidating visibility of your whole network to one console. The key is creating a
solution that’s simpler for you to manage, from your operational standpoint,” said Dodd.
In most cases, the client’s needs can be served with an existing DPS product. But if current products don’t provide that perfect fit solution, Dodd will work with the DPS Engineering Department to develop a custom solution that meets the client’s
exact requirements.
“From a design aspect, perfect fit means we match our existing products against your requirements. A lot of times, an offthe-shelf solution will meet your needs. But if it doesn’t, we modify our hardware and software so it fits your needs exactly. Our hardware is modular and the intelligence is built into the software, so we can tweak it pretty easily until it’s the
absolute best fit for you,” Dodd said.
11
Step 3: Web Demonstration
When a preliminary design has been created,
Dodd contacts the client for a Web demonstration. Using a shared browser connection and a
conference call, Dodd explains the basics of
the application and familiarizes the client with
the technical features of the equipment that
will be used.
The Web demo is a convenient, no-pressure
way for the client to get a very personalized
demonstration of the proposed alarm monitoring solution, covering both the broad application and the fine technical details.
Step 4: Quote
If the client approves the initial presentation,
Dodd’s staff prepares an in-depth written
Sales quotes to clients are illustrated with detailed technical drawings.
quote that details the client’s existing situation, how the proposed solution will improve
that situation, and the technical functionality of the equipment.
“First we reiterate our understanding of your as-is situation, and we explain how where going to take you from where you
are right now to your desired end results. Then we get into the nuts-and-bolts aspect of how it’s going to work in your network,” said Dodd.
“We also provide extensive application drawings with the quote. We spend a lot of time creating the drawings, because they
really help you connect the dots and see what we’re proposing.
“The quote also includes a price page that breaks down the cost on a line-by-line basis, and a list of referrals to existing
DPS clients. These are companies in your industry, sometimes even in your geographical area, that use similar equipment
to what you have now and similar equipment to what we’re proposing. We want you to see you’re not buying something
that’s untested or unproven.”
Step 5: Installation, Training and Support
Dodd emphasized that DPS clients aren’t on their own after they purchase. DPS Telecom continues to support the client
with installation services, training and 24/7 tech support.
“Our installers are subject-matter experts in the product they’re installing — in fact, they’re the same guys who teach classes at DPS Factory Training Events. For a full-system install, your installer will make sure everything is working right and
he’ll train you and your staff on the system,” said Dodd.
“We provide training with installation so that you have full control over your own alarm monitoring system and your own
destiny. We want you to be as self-sufficient as possible — but we also provide a high level of support. For the lifetime of
your DPS alarm monitoring solution, you’re entitled to 24/7 technical support.”
Step 6: Evaluation, Backed by a Money-Back Guarantee
Every alarm monitoring solution from DPS Telecom, including custom-engineered solutions, is backed by a 30-day, norisk, money-back guarantee.
“Clients love this, because it basically removes all risk from buying our equipment. And that’s only right. If you’re going
to commit a portion of your budget, you should be sure the product delivers a huge amount of value,” said Dodd.
“We guarantee that your alarm monitoring solution will work as promised, and if it doesn’t, you’re not on the hook for anything. After your system is installed, you can try it for 30 days, and if you’re not happy for any reason, you can send it back
and you’re not on the hook for the equipment, for the training, for the shipping, for anything. It’s just 100% money back.”
12
T/Mon NOC
The only alarm system
that supports all your
equipment, no matter
what protocol, no matter
what manufacturer
How many different kinds of devices to you monitor? How
many different screens do you have to watch? If you’re tired
of the confusion and clutter of multiple alarm consoles, you
need T/Mon NOC.
T/Mon NOC is uniquely designed to monitor all your equipment, no matter what protocol, no matter what manufacturer. T/Mon shows your whole network on one screen, so
problems can’t hide.
“I was looking for a way to integrate our local
ILEC region into HP OpenView without a major
network change. T/Mon’s SNMP responder was
the answer.”
—Todd Matherne, NCC System Admin
With T/Mon NOC you can:
Because of its multiprotocol capability, T/Mon
NOC is the perfect system to:
•
Monitor alarms in 25 protocols, including: ASCII,
Badger, Cordell, DCM, DCP, DCPf, DCPx, DCM,
E2A, Larse, Modbus, NEC, Pulsecom, SNMP,
TABS, TBOS and TL1.
•
Display your entire network on one screen and know
the status of your network with 100% certainty.
•
Mediate alarm data to different protocols.
•
Forward alarm data to other masters.
•
Send pager and email alarm notifications to multiple
users automatically.
•
Integrate diverse equipment to your SNMP or TL1
manager.
•
Save your older equipment instead of replacing it —
at huge cost savings to you.
•
Manage large, complex networks from one T/Mon
station, dramatically reducing staff and training costs
•
Never miss an alarm — if there’s a problem
anywhere in your network, T/Mon will see it. And
T/Mon’s advanced notification features will make
sure you know about it.
More T/Mon advantages:
•
Connect multiple Remote Access users simultaneously via LAN, dial-up or serial port.
•
Easy-to-maintain system, so any company can
monitor in-house.
•
Control remote site equipment manually or automatically in response to alarm inputs.
•
•
Administer a centralized configuration database for
your whole network.
T/Mon’s ASCII Alarm Processor extracts detailed
information from switches, routers, SONET gear,,
email, Web and FTP servers — and just about any
other network device
•
Maintain alarm history logs and create reports of
alarm events.
•
Monitor 24/7/365 — even when no one’s in the
office. Companies around the world safely rely on
T/Mon’s pager and email notification for after-hours
monitoring. It’s a 24/7 NOC without the hassle or
expense.
13
“Looking at one map and knowing it shows every piece of equipment you’re monitoring in the field —
when you see green on there from everywhere, all your sites, that’s piece of mind.”
—Brian Krest, Senior Telecom Engineer
Interfaces
T/Mon Master Console
202 212 232 485 FSK PSK LAN
Dial-up Service Channels Overheads
Secure HTTPS Web Browser
Remote Access
Protocols
ASCII TL1 DCM DCP E2 FX8800 Modbus TABS
TBOS TRIP POP3 NTP Ping SNMP Teltrac X.25
NEC 21SV Badger Cordell Datalok Felix Granger
Alphanumeric Paging SMTP TMonNet
RTUs
Legacy RTUs
PBXs
Battery
Plants
Switches
Microwave
Radios
Routers
More ways T/Mon NOC speeds repairs and makes maintenance easier
•
Pinpoint the exact location and description of alarms
Monitor proactively, not reactively. T/Mon tells you everything you need to know to fix problems on the
very first site visit — which site, which device, alarm severity and a plain English description of the alarm.
You’ll eliminate unnecessary and overtime truck rolls, for a dramatic reduction in windshield time costs.
•
Tell system operators exactly what to do when an alarm happens
T/Mon’s customizable text messages enable you to database detailed explanations and instructions for
handling every alarm. Everyone on your staff, no matter what their skill or training, will know exactly
what to do when an alarm happens.
•
Control nuisance alarms
T/Mon gives you three ways to filter nuisance alarms: alarm tagging (ignore alarms until user un-tags
them), alarm silencing (temporarily ignore alarms for specified time) and alarm qualification times (ignore
momentary and self-correcting alarms).
•
Create custom alarms from multiple alarm inputs
T/Mon’s Derived Alarms help you track complex events by combining alarm inputs and date/time statements. If you need to know when a site’s generator and battery have both failed … or you want to know
if a generator doesn’t run its weekly self-test … or any other combination of events … Derived Alarms
will tell you.
•
Use these and all other T/Mon features on all alarms
All your alarms from all your devices — no matter what protocol — can access all of T/Mon’s advanced
features. Even your oldest devices can use pager and email alerts, Derived Alarms and Controls and nuisance alarm filtering. T/Mon NOC is a complete upgrade of your alarm monitoring in just one unit.
14
NetGuardian 832A
“It's just a fantastic product. The NetGuardian does what it says it can do, and actually a lot
more.” —Mark Renne, Program Manager
Powerful, high-capacity, versatile SNMP alarm collector
covers all your remote monitoring needs
The NetGuardian 832A does as much as an RTU can … and then it does a whole lot more.
The NetGuardian’s primary function is to mediate contact closures and analog voltages to SNMP traps — but it also
serves as a reach-through terminal server, a self-contained all-in-one alarm monitoring system, a 24/7 email and
paging system. — and then there’s still more functionality …
The NetGuardian 832A provides all the tools you need to for complete remote site management:
NEBS
Level 3
Certified
•
Mediate 32 discrete inputs, 32 ping alarms, and 8 analog alarms to SNMP
traps.
•
Report alarms to multiple SNMP managers or T/Mon NOC
•
Supports LAN or dial-up transport — immediately implement SNMP monitoring without LAN or use dial-up as a backup path in case of LAN failure.
•
Monitor legacy telephony gear, battery plants, generators, security locks, temperature sensors, and all your other
remote site equipment.
•
Expand your monitoring capacity up to 176 discrete inputs with the NetGuardian Expansion Unit.
•
4-threshold analog monitoring (Major Over, Minor Over, Minor Under and Major Under).
•
Control site equipment with 8 control relays.
•
Control switches, routers, PBXs and other telecom gear
through the NetGuardian’s 8 terminal server reachthrough ports.
•
Integrated Web Browser interface for stand-alone
alarm monitoring.
•
Email and pager alerts for 24/7 alarm monitoring without a master.
•
Live streaming video surveillance of remote sites with
the NetGuardian SiteCAM.
•
Included Windows configuration utility.
•
Free lifetime firmware upgrades.
The NetGuardian Web Browser Interface provides standalone local monitoring.
15
Alarm Monitoring Solutions from DPS Telecom
Alarm Monitoring Masters
Remote Telemetry Units
NetGuardian 832A: RTU monitors 32 alarm points, 8
analog inputs, 8 control relays, 32 ping targets, 8 terminal
server ports; reports to any SNMP manager, T/Mon NOC
or T/Mon LT
T/Mon NOC: Full-featured alarm master for up to
1 million alarm points. Features support for 25 protocols,
protocol mediation, alarm forwarding, pager and e-mail
alarm notification, Web Browser access, multi-user
access, standing alarm list, alarm history logging.
T/Mon LT: Light capacity SNMP-only alarm master.
Supports SNMP Trap Processor software module,
up to 10 SNMP devices, and up to 20 DPS Telecom
remotes. Features pager and e-mail alarm notification,
Web Browser access, standing alarm list and
alarm history logging.
NetGuardian 216: RTU monitors 16 alarm points,
2 analog inputs, 2 control relays, 1 terminal server port;
reports to any SNMP manager, T/Mon NOC or T/Mon LT.
Remote Alarm Block 176N: Wire-wrap alarm block
monitors 176 alarm points, 4 controls; reports to any
SNMP manager, T/Mon NOC or T/Mon LT
NetGuardian 480: RTU monitors 80 alarm points,
4 control relays; reports to any SNMP manager,
TL1 master, T/Mon NOC or T/Mon LT
www.dpstelecom.com
1-800-622-3314
DPS Telecom
“Your Partners in Network Alarm Monitoring”
“We protect your network like your business depends on it”

How to Stop Network Outages Cold — Before They Happen

Transcription

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