To generate quotes for leading Global Tier-1 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) you must understand how each carrier operates their network compared to your enterprise region.

It can turn out to be a very daunting task understanding which Global Tier-1 ISP carrier(s) are the right fit for your topology use case.  Sitting through hours of presentations, pricing meetings and contract negotiations can take weeks to finally settle on a solution for your enterprise.

Even after you “complete” the decision with a telecom provider, the next phase starts, implementation.  Plus, you still have your full-time day job in IT.

Macronet Services can solve this by designing, quoting and negotiating Global Tier-1 ISP quotes in record time.  You would be amazed how fast and efficient our intelligence process is, and you will not have to “block” your calendar out to cover days of vendor presentations.

We are not a reseller, rather a channel partner of all Global Tier-1 ISPs and smaller carriers globally.  Our model is simple, we provide this service for free and the carrier you select remits receivables to us.  Have you ever purchased hardware working with a partner or a software channel partner?

The result, Macronet Services is unbiased on your telecom provider selection, we are your advocate and architect along the process.  The answer is “No” our Channel Relationships with vendors does not “increase” the price in your contract(s) either.  Once a decision is made, you will contract with the providers directly and they will cover any of our cost.  We take on the risk as there is no requirement to move forward with a vendor and if that happens, we are not paid by provider.

Let’s break down the methods IT teams face when tackling this on their own.  We do not take over you team responsibilities in our model, we simply serve as an extension of your organization.

However, if this is an ISP refresh after a 3-year term, we can confidently say many carrier networks have changed since your last exercise.  Pricing, capabilities (some carriers have exited markets), pricing, SLAs and more constantly change.  Running a search online to obtain pricing, best practice designs and more will come up pretty empty.  The carriers do not publish the guts of what you need in an ISP deployment.  Let’s compare procuring this on your Own vs. having a Channel Partner support the process.

Obtaining a Global Tier-1 ISP quote and design on your own with steps to take include the following:

Direct Contact Methods with a Tier-1 ISP:

  1. Contact Global telecom providers such:
    • AT&T
    • Lumen Technologies
    • Verizon
    • NTT Communications
    • GTT
    • Arelion
    • Deutsche Telekom

 

2. Request for Quotes (RFQ) Strategies  Many enterprises are unaware of how the account team support for an enterprise works.  If there is existing or potential “spend” by you the client, you most likely will receive a designated sale professional.  “Significant Spend” is defined by each carrier and we have seen it range from $10K-50K monthly before a team is assigned.  Otherwise, you might be working with a call center or inside sales professional in a pool of employees.  Start by following one of the methods:

  • Contact their enterprise sales departments to speak with someone who will be responsible for your account.
  • Fill out quote request forms on their website if one exists. This will route you to the correct group responsible for your account
  • Request a consultation with their business development team to set up a meeting to discuss requirement.
  • Once you have contact with the right team, you’ll want to specify the following at a minimum to develop the proposal:
    1. Bandwidth requirements
    2. Geographic coverage needed
    3. Service level agreements (SLAs)
    4. Specific network services required (DIA, WAN services etc.)
    5. Term length desired
    6. Installation timeline
    7. Latency, Jitter etc. (if applicable)

Global Tier-1 ISPs and other smaller carriers will not typically send you a proposal without 1-2 in person or video meetings.  We only named a few providers above, that math equates to 7 Global Tier-1 ISPs X (2) Meetings at an hour each = 14 hours just for pricing and a design.

However, our method as a Channel Partner provides a much more detailed proposal with a network topology provide more detailed guidance on each quote-gathering strategy.  We will break down the process from a high-level view:

Direct Contact Methods (Detailed Approach):  As a Channel Partner, we typically use the vendor teams who support us across all customers.  However, prior to engaging a vendor team, we will evaluate your environment in our tools first to identify which provider(s) are the most beneficial for your topology.  Why?  There is no sense soliciting vendors who do have a core network near your nodes or couldn’t provide the requirement you need to be met.

Once we have determined the first tranche of Global Tier-1 ISPs, we will engage the vendor teams who support us as mentioned above.  This has afforded new customers like you, the ability to take advantage of our account teams which include a Solution Architect, Customer Success Manager and their direct management teams.

“Macronet Services was able to spend time with us identifying the most optimal connection into OCI FastConnect.  Their unbiased approach to support us was appreciated including offering their network engineering time at no cost.  We chose Megaport after working with Gary Sloper and his team,”
says Crawford.  Jonathan Crawford, Chief Architect

No size is too small for them and there isn’t a minimum “buy” threshold unlike the direct method above.  However, we can still work with the vendor’s direct teams if an existing relationship already exists with your company or if that is preferred.  The pricing is still the same in the proposals.  We can even skip the “meetings” outlined earlier and get straight to the design and proposal before you engage with the carrier directly.

Channel Partner Global Tier-1 ISP steps for a quote.

– Prepare a comprehensive RFQ document including:

  1. Exact bandwidth requirements
  2. Network topology needs
  3. Anticipated traffic volume
  4. Redundancy requirements
  5. Specific service locations
  6. Estimated contract duration
  7. Implementation requirements & timeline
  8. SLAs
  9. Contractual Language
  10. Local contacts for each node (needed for install)

The Channel Partner model formerly known as the “telecom broker or telecom agent) has exposed our organization to thousands of individual projects with Global Tier-1 ISPs.  Thus, we have daily experience working with carriers vs. an IT team who has refresh every 36 months.  Some of the areas we have developed for our clients include but not limited to

  1. Expertise in logical designs across carriers including Global Tier-1 ISPs
  2. Price Benchmarking – we understand by region and country what most vendors offer.
  3. Project Management – we append or oversea the entire project from start to finish.
  4. Tax implications by carrier which a client is responsible for. Often missed when an IT team is negotiating on their own as the taxes are not calculated in the final proposal.
  5. Latest trends and rankings across carriers for Price, Customer Services, Favorable Terms and Implementations.
  6. Expertise in negotiating telecommunications contracts
  7. Access to pricing not publicly available
  8. Objective comparison of multiple providers
  9. Online Comparison Platforms:
    1.  Latency rates
    2.  Global network coverage
    3.  SLA guarantees
    4.  Redundancy options
    5.  IPv4/IPv6 support
    6.  Peering arrangements
  10. Fiber Tools – We have in depth building and fiber route lists to help narrow down a carrier in minutes.
  11. Macronet Services is recognized as one of the top Global Tier-1 ISP and telecom Channel Partner on the Market.

4. Additional Recommendation:
Consider getting quotes from multiple provider tiers:
– Tier-1 ISPs (global backbone)
– Tier-2 ISPs Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) (regional providers)

Our Channel approach showing a step-by-step action plan to efficiently obtain ISP quotes:

Immediate Action Items taken:

1. Prepare Technical Documentation

  • Network requirements specification
  • Current bandwidth utilization
  • Geographic coverage needs
  • Projected growth estimates
  • Specific performance requirements

2. Initial Pricing Contact Strategy

  • Create a standardized RFQ template
  • Develop a spreadsheet to track responses
  • Prepare a list of 5-7 potential providers

3. Recommended First Contacts

  • Initial Global Tier-1 ISPs or CLEC ISPs who fit your network boundary using our methods above.
  • Any you as a client would like to see based on prior experience or what you know of as available in your building. This is not required as some clients are looking for us to help.

4. Preliminary Information we gather from Global Tier-1 ISPs

  • Estimated annual contract value
  • Specific service level agreements – ISP SLAs
  • Scalability options
  • Disaster recovery capabilities
  • Network topology
  • Account Team org chart
  • Support Process for break fix
  • IP Schema
  • Pricing models (usage-based vs. committed)

We have a free Network RFP which can be used as well if your network has scale both in bandwidth and node reach.  Often, enterprises require a formal RFP as part of their internal governance with procurement.  Again, we offer this complimentary as it can be time intensive.  After thousands of proposals, we have perfected the Global Tier-1 ISP and CLEC RFP process which we urge you to take advantage of.

Network Topologies are provided by the carrier to conform to your environment both physical and logical.  We can help adjust and add IT specific information including your IPv4/IPv6 networks, LAN, Address locations and any external calls to Cloud Services such as IaaS, SaaS etc.

Areas our Global Tier-1 ISP RFP can focus on include but not limited to:

  1. Infrastructure Needs
  2. Technical Specifications
  3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Requirements
  4. Security Specifications
  5. Pricing Parameters
  6. Pricing/Terms and Leverage Points
  7. Critical Evaluation Criteria
  8. Hidden Cost Considerations
  9. Technical Due Diligence
  10. Detailed Network Performance Reporting
  11. Response Guidelines
  12. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis

 

The strategies above work in all vertical businesses including Finance, Manufacturing,

If you are exploring MPLS to SDWAN, Internet, Cloud Connectivity or more across your WAN, Contact Us for a free evaluation.  As previously discussed, this is a complimentary service where you have all the upside in your favor!