SUPPORT PROCESS

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The Fortress Solutions Technical Support Team provides remote fault reporting, escalation, repair and resolution for faults. This effort begins after the customer’s assessment of any fault found and once the customer has undertaken first-level Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OA&M) functions. Fortress Solutions’ trained and experienced Technical Assistance Technicians will provide assistance with identifying the problem.

Technical Support Response and Problem Classification Procedure

Classification	Actions/Responsibilities
Emergency (service affecting):	4 hour on-site support for emergency service for hardware maintenance agreements that require on-site emergency support.
Critical (service affecting): Any highly critical system or service outage in a live environment that results in severe degradation of overall on-line/off-line network performance, network operator billing, or data-collection capabilities.	Within 30 minutes, Fortress Solutions’ technical group will respond and acknowledge receipt of the reported fault. Such response and acknowledgment may be via telephone or other electronic means. Fortress Solutions will provide support continuously (24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year) until the critical problem is resolved or a satisfactory interim solution is provided. Restoration of service to an acceptable level may be achieved by providing advice, by a work-around, or by a software configuration change. On-site technical support is also provided at this level for any equipment that is deemed critical to Fortress Solutions’ customer’s network.
Major (service affecting): Any major degradation of system or service performance that impacts end-user service quality or significantly impairs network operator control or operational effectiveness.	Fortress Solutions’ technical group will respond during the regular business day (within 30 minutes if problem is reported via telephone) and will acknowledge receipt of reported fault. Such response and acknowledgment may be via telephone or electronic means, at the discretion of the technical group. Continuous support will be provided during business hours for restoration of service. Restoration of service to an acceptable level may be achieved by providing advice, by a work-around, or by a software configuration change within 30 days.
Minor (non–service affecting): Any minor degradation of service performance that does not have any impact on end-user service quality and minimal impact on network operations.	Within two business days, Fortress Solutions’ technical group will respond to and acknowledge receipt of reported fault. Such response and acknowledgment may be via telephone or electronic means. The technical group will provide support during business hours Monday thru Friday 8:00am-5:00pm CST on a reasonable-effort basis. All reported problems will be resolved within 90 days.
Special Projects (as time permits):	Customer opens for special projects such as swaps or network audits for proactively providing replacements.

REMOTE NETWORK ACCESS

Customer may need to provide connectivity to such telecommunications equipment as necessary for Fortress Solutions to establish a data link for use by the Fortress Solutions technical support group for remote diagnosis and maintenance of the product(s). Both parties shall agree upon appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized access. Fortress Solutions’ Technical Support Group, with notice to the Customer, will investigate reported faults by remote login diagnosis and will then correct and resolve the faults. Customer’s failure or delay in providing such remote access shall be deemed an event excusing Fortress Solutions’ fault resolution performance for a period equal to such failure or delay by Customer and such additional period as may be reasonably necessary to allow Fortress Solutions to resume performance of the service support obligations. Fortress Solutions will not connect to the Customer’s network without prior authorization, and such connection will be solely to provide product support.

ON SITE SUPPORT

Scheduled:

Fortress Solutions Technical Support and Maintenance Agreements provide for scheduled on-site repair and support engineers at no additional charge for various products supported by Fortress Solutions. Fortress Solutions support agreements also include on-site support for unscheduled business critical support issues, as well as optional on site support for most other products.

Full Time:

Fortress Solutions currently includes full time on-site Fortress Solutions Engineering Resources to some of our larger customers.

PROBLEM REPLICATION

Fortress Solutions uses a state-of-the-art test and lab facility with the latest techniques, hardware and emulation systems to troubleshoot and duplicate customer issues. This allows the Fortress Solutions Engineers the ability to perform diagnostics, problem isolation and solution testing without affecting the customer’s network until a resolution has been tested and proven.

HARDWARE TESTING

All equipment that has been repaired, returned or acquired by Fortress Solutions is fully tested and burned-in (including load and port testing), for 72 hours. All hardware is re-certified by Fortress Solutions and is guaranteed to be in excellent physical and working condition when it arrives at your location.