Support & Maintenance Plan Summary

When Kudler decides to take the option of utilizing the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, it will be a smart choice for its flexibility, however the staff of Kudler will most likely not be qualified to service this new piece of technology. There is little need to worry though, as Novell embraces its role of providing support and maintenance for all its products.

As noted on their website, Novell.com, Novell’s world class support organization offers customers the best support experience in the industry. (Novell, Inc., 2010) It makes little distinction from smallish businesses, like Kudler, or globe-spanning industries, they uphold their claim to provide the Linux support offerings to meet all business needs. Novell is also noted as having more than 25 years of experience, Global Support Centers and expansive field teams, as well as industry recognized awards and certifications. (Novell, Inc., 2010) Certainly by outsourcing to the developers of the server Kudler is purchasing will the best support and maintenance to be found.

With a subscription to Novells SUSE Linux Enterprise support, Novell has the responsibility of providing a number of features. This includes:* Award-winning technical support,* First Look on-demand training,* Maintenance updates, service pack releases, hardware enablement and security and bug fixes Entitlement to the Subscription Management Tool for SUSE Linux Enterprise,* Rights to upgrade to new versions of the SUSE Linux Enterprise family of products,* A generous and predictable lifecycle commitment,* Opportunities to participate in new beta product testing,* Protection under the Novell® Technology Assurance Program, including extensive intellectual property (IP) coverage,* Assurance of compatibility with thousands of hardware and software products Flexible, tiered pricing Access to an extensive global network of resellers and distributors, and lastly:* Access to Novell Customer Center an online interface where, from one location, you can review the status of all your Novell products, subscriptions and services, and obtain critical Linux updates and support. (Novell, Inc., 2010)The price for a subscription to this detailed support can be tailored to fit the level of the business in question, with a table available on Novells website for perusal.

(Novell, Inc., 2010)A year of the basic support could be as low as $349.00, with three years being $940.00. A year of priority service, designed to have the fastest response time possible, would be $1,499.00, and three years being $4,050.00. As the priority service appears to have prices which might be better suited to larger industries, it would be recommended that Kudler gain a subscription to the standard support. This standard subscription strikes a more realistic medium, with a year of support being $799.00, and three years being $2,160.00. As the three year contract has a slight reduction for the overall time compared to renewing for a year each time, and that the server should be flexible enough to be adaptable to future upgrades, it would be in Kudlers best interests to take the three year service agreement.

References:

Novell, Inc. (2010). Suse linux enterprise server. Retrieved from http://www.novell.com/products/server/services_support.html