Fortress Announces New Integrated Service Support Offering: FortressONE
FortressOne “New” Intergrated Service Offering Provides an Alternative to Costly OEM Support Programs
Significant Cost Savings for Data Communications, Telecommunications Service Providers and Enterprise Customers
Fortress Solutions announced a new integrated solutions package today that delivers an alternative suite of support services to traditional OEM support programs such as equipment sparing, product repair and return, advanced logistics, and product telephone support (CTAC) for products from major equipment vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, and Ciena. The FortressOne support suite is a competitive offering to OEM support programs and delivers significant costs savings to service providers and enterprise customers, especially for aging and or legacy equipment.
Owners and operators of data communication networks are under increasing cost pressure to reduce capital and operating expenses. FortressOne is a customized and OEM-agnostic service offering to enable customer care Self-Support for telecommunication carriers in an effort to de-bundle the classic and expensive OEM service support model.
What is Self-Support?
Over the past twenty years, OEMs have required telecommunication carriers to support a very high percentage of annual spend on after-purchase support services such as Repair, Software Support, CTAC (Carrier Technical Assistance Center or telephone support), and Advanced Replacement Sparing. In some cases, these after-purchase support services can cost between 8% to 20% of initial equipment spent on an annual basis.
According to Brendon Mills, CEO of Fortress Solutions:
The OEMs have long used the Support revenue as a margin enhancement opportunity for the steep drops in overall equipment pricing. Service Providers and Enterprise customers are now catching on to the fact that they can fulfill these support services much more cost effectively through Self Support Programs utilizing companies like Fortress Solutions.
During the early days of a new product deployment, the cost for these services can be justified given the “break-in” period of new equipment and the churn of software releases. However, in most cases, the software release churns stabilize after one to three years and the carrier prefers not to disturb a working version of software in their network. With the software churn no longer an issue, the OEMs continue to lock-bundle all of the support services to the software support and charge the same 8% to 20% of the initial purchase price annually. The hope within the OEM is that after 3-5 years, they can upgrade the carrier network with new equipment and reset the support contract for several more years.
The problem with this OEM business model remains that in today’s market, the carrier business model can no longer support this bundled support cost. The return on the carrier’s product support investment to the OEM decreases rapidly over the life of the product. Increasingly, carriers are creating a Self-Support model where they insist on the OEMs to debundle elements of the support package. The Self Support model drives carriers to internally support certain services or out-source all of the services to a third-party provider such as Fortress Solutions.
FortressOne is an alternative support offering designed to replace classic OEM support programs. This program is designed to encapsulate all the necessary services into a single offering required to maintain the carrier’s aging infrastructure for an extended period of time. This allows the carrier to redirect additional capital to more critical business needs. FortressOne is highly customizable and can be implemented as a complete suite of services for a single platform or designed in a de-bundled a-la-carte methodology to maximize overall spend. Additionally, many FortressOne programs work in concert with the OEM support program depending on needs and circumstances.
About Fortress Solutions
Fortress Solutions is the #2 market share provider of product lifecycle repair and logistics services for the telecommunication and cable equipment markets. With over 30 years of experience, Fortress has built a reputation as a top supplier for service providers who demand high quality product repair, certification and logistics services. Fortress Solutions is headquartered in Plano, Texas with facilities in Leesburg, Florida and Lenexa, Kansas. Please visit the Fortress Solutions website at www.fortsol.com or the company Twitter feed at @Fortsol.
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