Are you wondering whether Level 3 Network Support for your legacy equipment is necessary?

Is it worth paying for support services, or should you neglect this cost and let the network, equipment and Network Management System (NMS) operate without support?

This is a question you may ask when your network equipment has reached End of Life (EoL) status. End of Life status means that the equipment is no longer produced or manufactured by the OEM, and, sooner or later, the original manufacturer will no longer provide support services.

This happens due to a range of market reasons, including, changes in features, the evolution of technology, capacity, optimization, etc.

Do you really need Remote Technical Support?

Every time a new piece of equipment or network management system is released it will be marketed as exceptionally better than the previous version; easier to manage, and scalable. In fact, when they are released, we’re often amazed by the new upgrades.

Those with knowledge of telecom networks and their various domains or technologies have witnessed the significant evolution of this equipment over the past few decades. In the past, telecom equipment consisted of multiple cabinets or racks. Today, some of these systems can be contained in a single cabinet or shelf, thanks to the development of smaller, more efficient equipment. These newer systems offer increased functionality, features, and capacity, compared to their predecessors.

Another factor that has contributed to this change is the utilization of newer domains such as cloud, SDN, NFV, and control and data plane equipment design. These innovations have enabled telecom network equipment to reach new heights. With these developments, network support has become essential.

Whilst telecoms networks are evolving, maybe you’re wondering:

– Why do I need support if the OEM is not providing it anymore?

– My network is fully functional, why should I change it now?

– How can support be provided by companies other than the OEM if the engineers who have been supporting my network are OEM collaborators or employees?

– Why is the OEM increasing my costs when they were the ones who sold me the equipment and made the decision to stop producing it?

– Who can provide the same level of support as the OEM, and can I trust them?

The answers, despite being hard to believe at times, are quite simple. All it takes is a deeper look at what is happening around us.

OEMs will always aim to upgrade and update their networks to boost sales and generate value, hence it is expected that they will encourage such upgrades. As they need to keep up with market trends and maintain their position in the market, they may push for customers to purchase new equipment and perform the swap. This is the only way for them to generate more revenue once they have stopped producing that equipment.

This means that there is no real reason that your network needs to change!

Did you know that there comes a time when the OEM gets their equipment from companies like Carritech to resell to their customers?

In these cases, buying from the OEM is even more expensive than normal, as they have to buy it in order to resell it. This means that carriers are already losing money by acquiring equipment from the OEM.

Another reason why OEMs advocate for businesses to upgrade their existing telecom equipment is that they cannot have a team for every new domain whilst maintaining the existing ones. This means they must recruit a team of engineers and train them to support the new equipment while reducing the current teams.

This process is not always smooth since we are dealing with humans, who may react differently, experiencing satisfaction and dissatisfaction, concern, fear, and so on. This means that we may encounter both voluntary and forced turnover.

30 years ago, there were significantly more OEMs than there are today due to mergers and acquisitions. Throughout this time, engineers have retired, moved to other companies, or had to adapt to new technologies. Many of these engineers have moved to companies like Carritech, which still recognizes the value of legacy networks and believes that they have many years of use ahead.

Networks are becoming increasingly mobile-driven, which is why we are already discussing 6G, despite 5G not being fully deployed everywhere and 2G and 3G still operating worldwide. This has also spurred the fixed network to change and evolve, but mostly in terms of capacity and bandwidth.

However, not all owners of telecom networks use mobile networks and are willing or able to deal with the costs of constantly replacing their equipment. This could be due to several factors such as the equipment being sufficient to provide the services they offer, a lack of budget to transform their network, or simply not wanting to upgrade. In many cases, even when moving to newer equipment, they will retain the older equipment due to the high cost of replacing everything at once.

The main issue with legacy networks is that as the technology evolves, OEMs may stop supporting older equipment, which can lead to a lack of support for those networks or overpriced values to do so. This can lead to a network without support.

This is a poor option for any network as many issues arise that cannot be resolved by the first or second level of support.

Even when downsizing the network, if the equipment is functioning properly and there are unresolved issues in the network, downsizing can still lead to service outages. These outages can result in high costs not only for the end customers but also for the Governmental Telecom Authority. These are worsened when the carriers want to keep the network fully functional.

Obtaining a contract for the 3rd level of support ensures that all network issues will be resolved and guarantees continuity within the network.

As an analogy, it’s like having health insurance. People hesitate to spend money on it, especially when they’re not currently facing any health problems. However, the reality is that at some point, everyone will need to see a doctor. Without insurance, they may end up paying a lot of money for medical care or waiting a long time for an appointment, increasing the risk of complications. Having insurance ensures that there will always be a doctor available to address health concerns and provide solutions, just like having support from Carritech guarantees that there will always be someone available to solve your network problems.

We can provide Remote Technical Support for your network!

It is far better to have “insurance” that keeps your network fully functional, than not to!

Whether your network is being downsized or kept as it is, it is essential to consider who will solve the issues that operations cannot handle and ensure that the network remains fully functional or address any doubts they may have in executing specific processes or procedures.

At Carritech, we boast a highly experienced team of engineers with expertise in level 3 support, including incident, problem, change, and configuration management across multi-vendor and multi-technology domains. Our team is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Our Carritech team offer support for your network in sourcing spare parts and upgrade items for the network and can also handle the purchase and management of any excess inventory.

Rather than having an unsupported network, at Carritech, we can offer a customised and cost-effective solution to meet your needs, ensuring you have a healthy network that maximizes its usage. In addition, we can manage your surplus assets.

Learn more about our Serviços de Suporte à Rede and Contacto us for more information.