Startec Global Achieves Reliable Monitoring with Top-Notch Support and Training

Startec Global Communications provides innovative, affordable, convenient, and easy-to-use telephone, Internet, and, communications services. Since 1989, Startec has been the leading provider of telephone services to ethnic businesses and consumers in the United States. The company also works with international long-distance carriers and Internet service providers transacting with the world's emerging economies. Startec offers high levels of satisfaction to its customers by understanding their needs and cultures, providing exceptional value, and delivering reliable communication services.

Scott Ho and Vince Halcomb Startec Global Communications

Scott Ho is the Associate Director of Field Operations at Startec, and Vince Halcomb is the Senior Manager of the NOC.

Awful Tech Support Forced A Monitoring Change

With their old monitoring system, Halcomb and Ho were facing a support nightmare. When you call your monitoring vendor's tech support number, you should clearly not expect to be placed on hold for 4 hours or more. Yet that is exactly was happening to Startec. "The technical support was horrible because they were based [overseas] and there was a time difference," said Halcomb. Ho added, "When we did get through to them, they would say, ‘Let us look at it. Go away for a few hours."

When the monitoring system went down, the tech support needed to bring it back online quickly simply wasn't there. "We would be without the system for long periods of time," said Halcomb. Multiple 2-day outages occurred in the course of just one month.

These zero-visibility monitoring outages created more work for Startec and increased the chance of missing a critical alarm. During these downtimes, Startec was forced to spend valuable staff time checking devices manually in an attempt to obtain as much visibility as they could. Without system-wide visibility, it was only a matter of time before an easily correctable alarm would go unnoticed until it became a major incident, impacting revenue-generating operations.

Startec Finds the Answer to Monitoring Trouble

Startec found a superior monitoring solution at DPS Telecom. Describing what brought Startec to DPS, Halcomb said, "We were looking for an alarm management system to take place of the current one, we had had it for six years or so. It just got to the point where it wasn't working that well and the technical support was horrible."

According to Halcomb and Ho, the level of support and personal attention provided by DPS is second to none. They expressed great satisfaction about calling DPS Tech Support and getting knowledgeable and friendly support right away. After examining available options, they ordered a T/Mon NOC to monitor their network.

DPS Training Makes All The Difference

Startec has chosen to deploy the T/Mon at its New York site. Halcomb and Ho will operate the system remotely via IP Terminal Servers. Knowledge of remote administration and monitoring will be essential, as they will not have the benefit of walking into an adjacent room and checking on the T/Mon unit directly.

Halcomb and Ho felt that the DPS factory training class they attended gave them an immediate edge. They were able see what the installation and monitoring procedures would be ahead of time, so they would have time to prepare for the equipment rollout.

Knowlegeable Instructors with Real-World Experience

Both Ho and Halcomb were impressed by the level of technical knowledge possessed by their training instructor, Chris Hower. Because DPS instructors are involved in product design and tech support, they can offer much more to clients during training than the average corporate trainer. "I've been to other training classes before and the training is not really training at all," Ho said. "Chris was not only very knowledgeable, but also very hands-on. With other training programs, we have asked questions and the trainer would almost always say ‘Let me get back to you on that' when he didn't know the answer. Chris was so knowledgeable that he immediately knew the answer to our questions."

" We didn't hear the phrase ‘I'll have to get back to you on that.' Not once."

During training, Halcomb and Ho got an in-depth look at the features of the T/Mon NOC and NetGuardian RTUs. They were impressed with the features of both.

At the conclusion of the training session, Halcomb felt he had accomplished everything he wanted to accomplish. Ho added, "the training is nice because it gives us a much better feel for the product and allows us to totally understand what is happening…as a result of the hands-on training."

Installation Made Easy With Pre-Implementation Training

Since Halcomb and Ho attended training before the installation of their T/Mon, they gained understanding that will make the installation run much more smoothly.

With exposure to the T/Mon and NetGuardian products and the knowledge they need to monitor their remote sites effectively, both Halcomb and Ho are confident that the implementation of DPS monitoring equipment in their network will go smoothly.

Pleased with Results, Startec Sends More Staff to Factory Training

After the positive experience that Halcomb and Ho had at DPS factory training, Startec chose to send Senior Engineer Paul Warner to another session a few months later. He was especially pleased with the ASCII monitoring portion of the class. "It's helpful to know the ASCII so I can parse the logs coming out (of the switch)," Warner said.

Learn how the T/Mon NOC, backed by superior tech support and training, can radically improve the way you monitor your alarms.

Contact DPS Telecom at 1-800-693-0351

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