Conference proxy::ftvax

595.0. "Technical Support Announcement" by GREGOR::OPP () Thu Feb 20 1997 06:59

    	Since the attached MAIL message appears to be Company Confidential
    in nature, please do not extract or copy it from this conference 
    without the permission of the authors, Keith Parker or Juergen Pfister.
    If you would like others to read this message, please refer them to 
    this topic rather than forwarding excerpts from it.  Thank you.
    
    Greg Opp
    
    
    ---------------------- Attached MAIL message ----------------------------
    
From:	PONYEX::PONYEX::MRGATE::"DASMTS::PMDF::mse.tay.dec.com::Parker" 17-FEB-1997 12:09:00.58
To:	RICKS::OPP
CC:	
Subj:	FW: EC-Bulletin #35, Announcing Expertise Center for Fault Tolerant VAX systems (VAXft) in Europe

From:	NAME: Keith Parker <[email protected]@PMDF@INTERNET>
To:	NAME: MSE_CASE <[email protected]@PMDF@INTERNET>,
	NAME: MSE_CPM <[email protected]@PMDF@INTERNET>,
	NAME: MSE_Direct <[email protected]@PMDF@INTERNET>,
	NAME: 'Greg Opp' <GREG.OPP@HLO>



>----------
>From: 	"US4RMC::\"[email protected]\" \"Juergen
>Pfister\""@mse4.mse.tay.dec.com[SMTP:"US4RMC::\"[email protected]\"
>\"Juergen Pfister\""@mse4.mse.tay.dec.com]
>Sent: 	Monday, February 17, 1997 9:28 AM
>To: 	Keith Parker
>Subject: 	FW: EC-Bulletin #35, Announcing Expertise Center for Fault Tolerant
>VAX systems (VAXft) in Europe
>
>For your interest, the Exertise Center Announcement for ftVAX - Juergen
>----------
>From: 	Paul van Ingen
>Sent: 	Montag, 17. Februar 1997 10:32
>To: 	Bauwens, Christian; Duchesne, Michel; Ehrenhoefer, Josef; Gaasenbeek, 
>Jaap; Gschwindemann, Francois; Isles, Tony; Kajanen, Raimo; Marchesi, 
>Massimo; Bollaerts, Erik; Duber, Alain; Grimsley, Brian; Holler, Josef; 
>Johansson, Bert; O'Mara, Danny; Riva, Francesco; Roveda, Luciano; Sandys, 
>Trish; Gauthier, Andre; Kok, Jan; Pena, Toze; van Berkel, Ted; Weindl, 
>Karlheinz; Apps, John; Bergiers, Marcel; Cesani, Giorgio; De Gelas, Arnaud; 
>Goodwin, Dave; Alfsen, Sigurd; Auramo, Pasi; Bob Hoke; Condon, Neil; 
>Cramer, Eric; Eckner, Michael; Egeland, Bjarne; Leyendecker, Manfred; Lutz, 
>Carlo; Oosterhuis, Hans; Rochat, Paul-Andre; Semerjibashian, Cornelia; 
>Voisin, Alain; Zignol, Marino; Allue, Carlos; Bastrup, Lars; Bathen, 
>Christoph; Blanc, Philippe; Cabrita, Paulo; Danko, Juraj; de Bruin, Peter; 
>Duperray, Jacques; Hallenstvedt, Erik; Hick, Geoff; Kitsios, Nassos; 
>Leemans, William; Luft, Bedrich; Matzliach, Reuven; O'Neill, Susan; 
>Ostling, Jan-Erik; Procyk, Bogdan; Reulen, Myriam; Rimann, Beat; Sanchez, 
>Rafael; Schneider, Osnat; Schwarzhappel, Gerhard; Seppala, Juhani; 
>Tornyossy, Gabor; Veau, Odile
>Cc: 	Moise Cohen; 'Bond, Dick'; 'Spangemacher, Klaus'; Massimo Marchesi; 
>Dave Einermann; 'Specty, Alain'; 'Siek, Herbert'; Giovanni Bruna; Jack Lee; 
>Mike Camberlain; Steven Frank; Stanley Davis; Sachio Norigoe; Hidekazu 
>Takahashi; David Flawn; Daniel Ho; Bakhtiari; 'Oliver Shu'; 'Peter Ding'; 
>Ellis, Diane; Fantasia, Vita; Feldeisen, Linda; Gregowske, Michael; Keane, 
>Patrick; Photenas, Judy; Colombelli, Paolo; De Heer, Rien; Ferru, Daniel; 
>Fiebig, Manfred; Lynch, Jim; Stein, Manfred; Van Der Kleij, Herman; 
>Willenegger, Thomas; Hudd, Chrissie; Klupp, Heinz; Koppelaar, Theo; Markar, 
>Idroos; Meerwaldt, Wico; Perrin, Guy-Roland; Pfister, Juergen
>Subject: 	EC-Bulletin #35, Announcing Expertise Center for Fault Tolerant 
>VAX systems (VAXft) in Europe
    
>
>Expertise Center Information Bulletin #35	              4-Feb-97
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>   Fault Tolerant VAX (VAXft) Expertise Center announcement
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This EC-Bulletin is to announce the availability of a European Expertise 
>Center for Fault Tolerant Vax (VAXft) systems.
>The EC will support both the Hardware and Software components of VAXft 
>systems.
>
>Expertise Center charter
>The Expertise Center is chartered with following responsibilities:
>1. Diagnose Before Dispatch activities
>   Countries receiving VAXft related service/support request may ask
>   the Expertise Center to 'diagnose' the request and advise for
>   appropriate action.
>2. OffSite support for OnSite engineers.
>   The Expertise Center may be requested to deliver assistance,
>   guidance and support by phone to an engineer that is OnSite working
>   a VAXft customer
>   request.
>3. Support and Problem Reproduction
>   The Expertise Center delivers remedial, post-sales, services to/for
>   MCS organisations. The EC may be also be asked to reproduce and
>   resolve customer requests in their Lab.
>4. OnSite support in Critical customer situations
>   In critical customer situations the Expertise Center may be
>   requested to come at customer site to analyse and resolve complex
>   problems.
>
>This is a Variant #2 Expertise Center, meaning that basic level of 
>expertise is required to be available in MCS Territory Service Centers.
>
>Expertise Center locations and resources
>The VAXft Expertise Center is a distributed EC, with MCS-France as a focal 
>point, additional resources from Germany and Italy complete the EC 
>structure.
>   EC-Contacts :   Alain Specty @EVT      DTN : 858-5963
>                   Herbert Siek @ESG      DTN : 770-3206
>                   Giovanni Bruna @TRN    DTN : 871-7200
>   EC-Manager  :   Moise Cohen @EVT       DTN : 858-1725
>
>Expertise Center engagement
>Standard EC engagement processes apply for this VAXft EC, meaning that 
>requests for support shall be sent to the Expertise Center NICE-Queue.
>  NICE Queue   :   EC_VAXFT
>  NICE System  :   EVTIS2  (Loc. 'BBR')
>  DMQ Number   :   121
>
>VAXft Product Status
>You may be aware that the VAXft systems are in the late phases of their 
>product lifecycle. Recently the Sustaining Engineering capabilities for the 
>products have been terminated, which may impact the Service Contracts and 
>Customer Expectations.
>Please be refered to the information recently provided by the MCS Service 
>Product Manager (Dave Einermann), which is added to this document.
>
>
>
>For more details you are refered to the updated Service Level Agreement as 
>shortly available in TIMA-TOOLS, S_PLAN database,
>keyword : EEC/SLA.
>
>        May you have additional questions or remarks please contact:
>                     Paul van Ingen @UTO (DTN: 838-2065)
>
>
>------------- transcript of PM&D message of Dave Einermann -----------
>
>MCS VAXft Family Status and Plans
>
>The VAXft product family began shipping in 1990 with the VAXft310 system. 
> The final product in the family was the VAXft810 which last shipped in 
>June 1995.
>
>Hardware Product Status:
>*  The entire product family has gone through formal End Of Life in 
>Engineering as well as End Of Life in Manufacturing
>*  No further Sustaining Engineering or Product Management resources are 
>assigned to the product
>Software (FTSS) Product Status:
>*  The product license was never retired.  The latest version of OpenVMS 
>which supports FTSS is V6.2.
>
>Engineering Hardware disposition to MCS:
>*  A VAXft 612 system was provided to MCS and is located in the CSC, 
>Colorado Springs
>*  VAXft 810 and 610 systems were provided to European Service Delivery 
>where an Expertise Center is being set up in France.
>
>MCS Status:
>*  The VAXft 610 system in France contains the entire VAXft Family 
>technical archive.  This data has been shared with the Colorado and Japan 
>CSCs.  Access to this archived information will be available once the 
>system is installed in France by contacting Alain Specty.
>*  Paul van Ingen of the European Expertise Center organization is in the 
>process of establishing cross-geography communications to share technical 
>resources.
>*  The number of systems under contract has not changed dramatically over 
>the past 2 quarters IPMT escalations have been minimal (one design-related 
>case in Japan)
>*  MCS has discontinued funding for Sustaining Engineering support as of Q3 
>FY96
>
>Service Contract Information:
>*  Population (based on the Headquarters PM&D contract database as of the 
>end of Q1FY97):   164 systems - Worldwide.
>*  This contract base, while currently stable is expected to decline 
>gradually as the older systems are phased out or local geography migration 
>plans are developed.
>
>Service Contract population for FY96 Q4 and FY97 Q1 is as follows:
>
>Product                 AMA    EUR    APA    TOTAL
>---------------------------------------------------
>VAX FT110     Q1 FY97    10     12      3       25
>VAX FT310     Q1 FY97     8     19      7       34
>VAX FT410     Q1 FY97    10     30      6       46
>VAX FT610     Q1 FY97    12     11      1(612)  24
>VAX FT810     Q1 FY97    12     20      3       35
>--------------------------------------------------
>
>Due to the relatively low contract population with no additional sales 
>possibilities as well as the fact that the Engineering organization is not 
>designing follow on products or providing any continuation support, it is 
>recommended that the following actions be taken effective immediately:
>*  An End of Service Life Plan with an effective date of January 1999 will 
>be developed. (Corporate MCS support for the product will end on this 
>date.)
>*  Product Service/Support should be limited to "traditional" remedial 
>support with clear customer expectations established regarding End Of 
>Service Life which is planned for the entire VAXft Family - effective 
>January 1999.
>*  Remedial support escalations from the field should continue through 
>normal channels with resource sharing between geographies wherever 
>possible.
>*  No multi-year contracts should be considered unless the support provided 
>after January 1999 is planned for on a local level and a local plan is 
>developed that ensures that support capabilities (technical, material, 
>etc.) are available locally in the geography.
>*  FTSS retirement processes will begin immediately and a communication 
>document which will include a draft customer letter will be developed and 
>distributed.
>(OpenVMS has committed to support FTSS on V6.2 until the end of support in 
>January 1999.)
>*  Account teams are encouraged to develop migration plans with their 
>customers.
>
>  			           - o -
>
>
>
>
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>% From: Juergen Pfister <[email protected]>
>% To: Angela Smith <[email protected]>, 'Donna Corbett'
><[email protected]>, "'[email protected]'"
><MSE1::Kparker>, Barry Crossfield <[email protected]>, Claudio
>Chiaranda <[email protected]>, 'Dick Bond' <[email protected]>
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><[email protected]>
>% To: Les Barnes <[email protected]>, Luis Carvalho
><[email protected]>, Nese Sahiner <[email protected]>, 'Pely Klein'
><[email protected]>, 'Silvana Bellotti'
><[email protected]>, 'Thanos Tsakalos'
><[email protected]>
>% Subject: FW: EC-Bulletin #35, Announcing Expertise Center for Fault
>Tolerant VAX systems (VAXft) in Europe
>% Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 10:47:10 -0000
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    	I am currently trying to get some support for a failed ft410 issue
    and am trying to contact the people mentioned in the base note.
    Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any response yet.
    
    	How does one with an IPMT escallation attract the attention of the
    FTVAX Expertise center?
    
    	Thank you,
    
    	Dave Brown
    	CXO/CSC

    RE: .1
    
    	I responded via electronic mail that perhaps Keith Parker, in
    Multivendor Systems Engineering, would be a good first contact.
    However, Dave raises a good point.  If someone from submits an IPMT
    case from the field that identifies the product as "VAXft System 
    Model _10 or 612", to what organization is this IPMT case assigned?
    My assumption is it's MSE.  
    
    Greg
    

>   My assumption is it's MSE.      

    Only in the sense to manage the IPMT case. Digital management,
    (is that an oxymoron?) has orphaned any real VAXft engineering
    support. There's is no way to introduce an FCO to the product
    assuming the product requires one.

    Can you say, rightsized, downsized, dumbsized ... whatever.

    Greg, you bring up a good point. I'll ask Keith to address
    this note thread though I don't expect any revelations.



    

       Thanks, Paul, for having Keith take a look.  BTW, this case is
    from the USAF, who was the end-user for the communications system
    that E-Systems developed.  
    
    Greg
    

    Hi All ,
    
    I sent a copy of the "official" MCS support statement to Dave Brown via
    exchange mail, it's in a WORD document.  The European expertise center
    is THE final line of "support" and they do not currently use IPMT as an
    escalation tool, so electronic mail or phone is the only communication
    media. Paul van Ingen is handling and cross-zone concerns.