There is only one thing that really matters in today's networks - but as Jane Dudman discovers, this enthusiasm comes at a price. making sure they are working to their full potential. And that depends on the in-house network team getting the right kind of service and support from suppliers. In recent years, there have been many innovations in the types of service and support offered by the major network suppliers, including the use of remote diagnostics and web-based helpdesk support (see box).

But are these new services providing customers with better, cost-effective support, or are they simply cutting costs for suppliers?

One result of the changing face of network support is that it tends to come in fancier packaging. Support used to be an add-on to a basic product sale: while always important, the service contract was secondary to the equipment. Now that has changed and so has vendors' approach to selling support.

It is increasingly common for services to be seen more as items in a vendor's overall product portfolio. Different services can be mixed and matched into a single, customised package. This makes it easier for customers to get the services they need. It also has an additional benefit for suppliers, as it makes it easier for them to sell services in packaged form via their distributors and resellers.

BNFL, the company that runs Sellafield, is using one such package, 3Com's Strategic Network Solutions, launched in February and described by the company as "a full suite of professional services to help customers capitalise on their network investment". The package includes project management, network performance checking, installation and network management.

Under BNFL's contract with 3Com, the network supplier provides direct support for a complex ATM network at the Sellafield site, which contains 200 buildings. Of those, 170 are now connected via the ATM network. "It was critical for us as a business, and for 3Com as a supplier, to ensure that this ATM network worked," said Dave Hurley, technical architect at BNFL.

Pass on the necessary skills

Slough-based network integrator, Logical Networks, designed and primed the ATM network, but 3Com provides direct support, including a full-time engineer on site. Hurley said the contract has helped BNFL get the most out of its new network. The support contract is now being passed over to BNFL's in-house IT services organisation, so 3Com's direct involvement is being wound down. But Hurley doesn't anticipate any problems with the handover. "The service organisation has taken out support with 3Com in its own right and the necessary skills are being transferred," he said.

John Harkin, customer service director at 3Com, said the past year or two have seen big changes in the way major networking vendors approach service and support. "The growing importance of the network as a business tool means there is now more consideration up front from the network vendors and their partners about service and support issues," he said.

Starting from the beginning, detailed analysis of requirements for the new network, will save customers from making potentially costly mistakes, said Harkin. "Part of our premier support package is about deploying professional engineers on project management and network design to ensure a high-quality implementation," said Harkin. "If you get the implementation right, you will avoid problems later."

There is only one problem with this seemingly reasonable premise, which is that Harkin doesn't have any figures to back it up. "Unfortunately, it is difficult to look at problems and pinpoint why they have occurred," he said. "There are lots of reasons."

That lack of hard evidence, though, hasn't stopped 3Com charging a premium price for this 'premier support' package. Senior network professionals working for companies like 3Com can command fees of up to #1,000 a day, although Harkin points out that many of the service deals agreed with his customers include the use of consultants at discounted rates.

Schemes such as 3Com's are being sold not as service contracts but as part of the vendor's product portfolio. But Harkin said they are not yet commodity items. "They are defined as products and they are on our product list, but we have to define the skills separately," he said. "It is a mix-and-match package, containing a certain number of days' design. Hopefully it would then run through to include a support contract, but the important thing is that the customer is quoted a price that we stick to. It means the support and service are ordered at the same time as the networking products."

Ordering services at the same time as the network products has some benefit for customers - it cuts down on the potential for nasty surprises and makes budgeting easier. But vendors aren't packaging services out of the goodness of their hearts. Packaged services are easier to sell via distributors and resellers. They haven't yet turned into commodity items, so the margins are better than those on mainstream products. That makes them attractive to vendors.

It is what Harkin describes as "service in a box". By splitting off more standardised services to be sold via their partners, vendors are able to focus their own internal efforts at the higher end of the service scale, where more expensive investment is required. "We sell simpler, higher volume services through distributors and partners, based on providing things like software updates and phone support," said Harkin. "To support those services, we have a number of web-based tools that help customers help themselves, such as online case tracking and technology to help customers diagnose their own problems. The aim is to help customers before they get round to calling the helpdesk."

What seems to be happening in the services market is a separation of different layers of service. Those that can be delivered automatically - with less pressure on expensive and skilled technical staff working for vendors and their partners - are being packaged as simpler, straightforward purchases to be chosen, like warranties, at the same time as the network products.

At the top end of the market, there is emphasis on the premium nature of networking services, which enables vendors and their partners to charge substantial amounts of money for more tailored services. "There has been a revolution in IT support and tools to help look after today's networks," said Howard Hines, head of technical services at BT's data and information services (D&IS) division, which acts as a network integrator and Var, supplying and installing data networking and remote access hardware from manufacturers such as Cisco, Mitel, 3Com and Newbridge.

Hines said there are two key areas in services: network design and network management. In the latter, D&IS' products include: Watchman remote router alarm monitoring software; Surecare remote software maintenance and upgrades; Performancecare bandwidth utilisation monitoring; and Configcare network configuration management and archiving.

"There is a progressive, if slow, commoditisation of services to support networks," said Hines. "We can use the growing number of tools to deliver high-value services at a lower cost." However, that doesn't mean network managers paying less for services. At the low end, Hines agreed that prices are coming down. "We are starting to see cost-effective services for the mass market," he said. "But if you look at the complex, high-end services, the value of our services to our customers will continue to increase, and so will the prices that customers have to pay, because the risk at that end of the market is so high."

Hines argued that the investment by his division in top-end projects, such as putting highly paid technical staff on specific network design projects, means that prices will stay high at the top end of the market.

But he adds that partnerships at this end of the market are about more than just prices. Customers running large global networks need service partners they can trust.

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

With good service and support becoming increasingly important, it is something customers are looking at more carefully when they buy equipment.

Dave Mossop, technical systems manager at road haulage company Eddie Stobart, said: "We are a small department, and with some of our networking purchases we are starting to get into technologies beyond those that we understand. We don't buy on the whizz and the bang, we buy on what that equipment does for our business and how it is going to be supported."

Mossop has recently bought equipment from Perle Systems, including comms controllers for 20 regional depots, linked into the Eddie Stobart head office in Carlisle, and a remote access switch. "With all the suppliers we looked at, the key question was how they could help us manage the equipment," explained Mossop. That meant choosing equipment that was easy to manage and ensuring there was cost-effective, back-up support.

Mossop said the relationship with Perle works well: "We have 24-hour phone support which is useful because a lot of upgrades happen at ungodly hours," he said. Perle support staff are also able to dial directly in to Eddie Stobart's private network, enabling them to diagnose faults quickly.

"We find that very useful," he said.

LEAPS AND BOUNDS: Support innovations

Customer support has improved over the past year. Here is a round-up of some of the new support services: Problem tracking: Equant, a network integrator, recently launched its Atlas service management system. Atlas enables engineers and customers to log calls into Equant's support centres, invoice customers and order parts within a centrally stored database.

Web-based support: This includes online problem tracking and enables customers to carry out initial self-diagnoses of common problems. In May, 3Com announced the first two components of its web-based customer support strategy: 3Com Subscription Web Service, which pushes subscribed information to customers; and 3Com Case Tracker Web Service, which allows customers to view their open cases online.

Remote network management services: Dial-in remote diagnostics and management facilities, such as Lan Base's LanVision, enable companies to outsource their core network management.

Improved monitoring packages: These products monitor the devices on the network and major business applications. US-based VitalSigns launched its VitalSuite range in the UK in June. The software monitors mission-critical business applications, including e-mail, databases and enterprise applications from SAP and Oracle.

Automated management of service level agreements (SLAs): Gathering the information to ensure SLAs are being met can be time-consuming. Many companies, including customer service specialist Peregrine Systems, are selling packages that include automated capture of data about network events and the performance of support technicians.

Links between support systems and other applications: Some software enables information from human resources systems to be fed automatically into support systems, so the costs associated with a new employee, for instance, can be entered directly in the cost/asset database, enabling the company to keep close tabs on costs.

Increasing use of call centres: Call centres provide a single point of contact for customers. They enable suppliers to run a more cost-effective support operation.