Engineering Support Services (ESS)

Our Engineering Support Services (ESS) are designed to provide technical and operational support for your network infrastructure based on Comtech technologies and solutions. With ESS, we provide 24/7 x 365 technical support through a three tier plan structure – ESS Base, ESS Core and Premium Operational Support.

ESS Base

With this tier, you get the essential technical support round the clock, but you need to purchase the software updates separately. ESS base includes:

• 24/7 x 365 engineering support – Round the clock, over the phone engineering support provided by an experienced team of engineers to resolve issues related to Comtech provided equipment. Issues could include configuration support, troubleshooting network issues/outages and, general inquiries (documentation requests, general questions in relation to equipment performance/specifications).  

• Access to our ESS online portal – An online web-based portal is available to ESS customers. The portal requires a secure login, and credentials will be provided upon receipt of the order. The portal will provide customers with an instant ability to create tickets and manage follow-up/update with ESS engineers.

• Quick resolution of ongoing issues via direct remote access to the customers’ Network Management System – Our ESS engineering team works with our customers to establish direct remote access to the customers’ networks through IP VPN or other suitable remote access mechanisms. The remote access to the customer networks assists with quick resolution of issues related to our provided equipment.

• Assigned Program Management Team – A Program Manager is assigned as the single point of contact (POC) for all technical/commercial issues and escalations. Our Program Managers provide you with status updates as needed. 

• Engineering support for purchased software and FAST code upgrade – We provide technical assistance for trouble-free implementation of purchased software/firmware and FAST codes. 

ESS Core 

With this tier, you get full 24/7 engineering support along with software updates and free training seats. ESS Core includes: 

• All support provided under the ESS Base tier plus

• Access to Software/firmware Updates – You will get access to all major and minor software releases and /firmware updates. You will also get advance nonfiction on any new and upcoming software release and features updates

• Engineering support for software/firmware upgrades and maintenance bug fixes – ESS engineers help our customers with escalated bug issues and/or routine product upgrades. The assistance may include debug testing (usually with Comtech EF Data product engineering guidance) and installation of the required patch or product upgrade code.

• Engineering support for purchased FAST code upgrade – We provide technical assistance for trouble-free implementation of purchased FAST upgrade codes.

• RMA support with target average turnaround time of 15 business days (after receipt at our facility) – We evaluate all RMA requests and provide triage support to help reduce false RMAs due to mis-configuration or other non-hardware related issues.

• Free seats in training at our facility – we will provide complimentary access to product training at our facilities, subject to availability.

 

Premium Operational Support

Premium Operational Support is designed for our customers that need full operational support, along with 24/7 engineering support for mission-critical networks.  Customers that require this extra support need to purchase both ESS Core and the Premium Operational Support. 

The Premium Operational Support will provide the following enhanced operational support and technical services:

• NMS configuration and hub maintenance – All of the Comtech hub configurations will be performed remotely by the Comtech team. This includes the hub side configuration of Comtech provided equipment (i.e. VMS, NetVue, HTO, HRX, remote gateways, modem equipment, etc.). Customers are responsible for providing one collocated remote modem available for hub configuration testing.
   
• Hub support for remote terminal commissioning – We configure the remote terminal in the NMS based on customer-provided information, provide remote support to the field technician team to validate end-to-end circuit during the commissioning process and provide advice on troubleshooting steps remotely. Language support will be in English and any other language support request can be reviewed based on resource availability.

• Quality of Service (QoS) configuration and Service Area (SA) allocation for remotes – We provide engineering consulting support during the planning phase for QoS configuration including and customizing SA allocation based on customer preference. We provide support on the configuration of the initial SA, QoS and other network elements on the NMS remotely.

• Help in Hub/Remote RF troubleshooting – We provide remote troubleshooting guidance/advice for the antenna systems and RF-related issues at the teleport / remote for the local technician.  All the support will be limited to Comtech provided equipment and any further RF hands-on troubleshooting should be performed by the Customer. 

• Advanced RMA Replacement Support – Comtech will provide advanced replacement support for critical hub components such as HTO/HTX/HRX, in case of a major network outage or system failure, etc.  

• Support for capacity and space segment planning – We provide monthly network status reports for capacity and space segment planning.  We also provide relevant network status and consultation support for capacity planning when on-boarding new customers to the platform.   

• Support for IP Network planning – We provide consultation on IP address allocation, VLANs and naming conventions during the on-boarding of new customers to the platform.

• Change Management Support – We provide NMS control/configuration support during change management procedures, including the configuration of QoS and adds, moves & changes of modems.

• Emergency Maintenance support – We provide support for planned service maintenance and emergency maintenance activities. We also provide support for the following activities during the maintenance window:
  • Firmware upgrades and patching of the Comtech provided equipment
  • New SA activations and SA configurations
  • New terminal deployment support (remote support during a maintenance window) 

• Weekly Conference calls – We conduct weekly technical conference calls with our customers to discuss hub status, open issues, upcoming remote activations, and required changes. 

• Dedicated resources – A dedicated resource will be assigned as the single POC for all technical issues. The POC will provide the customer with regular status updates.

• Network Upgrade Planning Service – We examine overall network designs and provide recommendations on bandwidth optimization, redundancy optimization and capacity planning. 

Please contact us (https://www.comtechefdata.com/contact-us/sales) for more information on ESS Service options.

 

ESS Value Proposition

 

Service Elements	ESS Base	ESS Core	ESS Core + Premium Ops
24x7x365 Technical Support	✓	✓	✓
Access to our ESS online portal	✓	✓	✓
Quick resolution of ongoing issues via direct remote access to the customers’ Network Management System	✓	✓	✓
Program Management Support	✓	✓	✓
Access to latest Software/Firmware updates		✓	✓
Engineering support for software/firmware upgrades		✓	✓
RMA support with target average turnaround time of 15 business days		✓	✓
Free Seats in training provided at Comtech EF Data Facility		✓	✓
Support for remote commissioning and Hub operation remotely			✓
QOS Configuration and Service Area allocation of remotes			✓
Help  in Hub / remote RF troubleshooting			✓
Advance RMA Replacement Support			✓
Consultation for IP Network planning			✓
Help  in capacity and Space segment planning			✓
Change Management Support			✓
Dedicated resources			✓
Network Upgrade Planning			✓
Weekly tasks review meeting and Monthly Network Status  Update			✓