Thanks for the responses so far. Just to clarify, this isn’t my RFP. The draft was written and handed to me Thursday afternoon to review. I’m not clear on the timeline yet. I am trying to make sure we present the best value to the students. I know I can offer a solid service at a lower cost than an outsourcing agency (I already have the labor, and as a union shop, they cannot bring in a 3rd party and then lay off employees). However, I have been horribly underfunded for years (I still have 7 year old wireless units in many areas). If this will get the upgrades/density, then it is a good idea.
What I am working to do is ensure we aren’t locked into a perpetual outsource. Let’s face it, those firms are not in the business to donate, they are in business to make money. As such, I’ll treat anything offered to me with considerable skepticism. As the contract nears end, I need to make sure we aren’t forced to renew, because the alternative would be unaffordable. I am VERY concerned of outsourcing agencies who cut costs (e.g inventing their own standards) to make them appear more palatable (and increase margin). It is also my experience that complaints don’t go away, they just go somewhere else. Keep the ideas flowing. I’ll incorporate whatever is relative into my response to the draft. If there are people on here who have outsourced, can you tell me the size of your student population in your Res Halls (number of buildings and number of residents)? I suspect this project doesn’t scale for our size (6 halls; 2300 resident students), but I’d like to understand if it would. Thanks, Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Philippe Hanset Sent: Monday, November 14, 2016 11:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outsourcing ResNet wireless and wired networks Brian, Each school has existing strength that you might not want to outsource. (existing commodity internet access, help desk, cable plant, Firewalls, …) When you mention Wired and Wireless, will this be completely independent from main campus or will it be connected to your existing core network? A few item to consider: -Ownership of cable plant (wireless lasts 5 years, cables last 20 years or more) -QoS -SLA (response time, help desk options, incident handling) -Data Privacy (authentications and traffic) -Policies -Cost of changes (you want an extra SSID) -Access to system ( a user has problems on campus but never in Residence, you want to compare) -Access to building for contractor, access to bedrooms (at UTK we had to have an opposite gender escort to access residence) Outsourcing is a loaded word ;-) Why don’t you do an RFI or RFQ first then based on responses do an RFP. Philippe Philippe Hanset www.eduroam.us<http://www.eduroam.us> www.anyroam.net<http://www.anyroam.net> On Nov 14, 2016, at 10:41 AM, Thomas Carter <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: While we haven’t outsourced operations, as a small school we have often leaned on the expertise of vendors in RFPs. For example, “here are the floor plans, how would you put wireless here and why would you do it that way?” It also gives additional viewpoints you might not have considered. On one project we even took the best ideas from multiple vendors and created a v2 of the RFP (this possibility was stated in the original RFP). They’ve (hopefully) done this other places and may be able to tell you what works and what doesn’t. You might need to think through the non-technical things that could be big issues. As a small campus, most of our policies are built around an assumption that no major functions like this are outsourced, so policies would probably have to change (e.g. outside vendors have to be escorted in residential buildings by an employee). Another thing to consider is access - if the vendor has access to residential buildings, should their employees go through background checks? Can you essentially say “we don’t want that employee on campus”? What about number of employees – for example, our internal policy is individual employees can go in public spaces of residential halls (within certain hours of the day), but at least 2 must be together for private spaces (rooms, apartments, etc). I’m sure you realize this, but don’t forget your own employees in all of this. Even just a feasibility study can affect moral in your department ( outsourcing = layoffs to many ). I went through this on an almost annual basis in the corporate world to justify our existence; lots of communication helps. Thomas Carter Network & Operations Manager / IT Austin College 900 North Grand Avenue Sherman, TX 75090 Phone: 903-813-2564 www.austincollege.edu<http://www.austincollege.edu/> <image001.gif> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Monday, November 14, 2016 9:16 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outsourcing ResNet wireless and wired networks Brian- If you’re outsourcing the entire operation, it sounds like much of what you’re trying to specify is best left to the vendors that would bid. Many of them are far from new to this and would come with their own proposed approaches. I can see specifying: • basic density/coverage requirements including ISP links and minimum .11 tech to use • a list of “these are not allowed” kinda constraints (hallway designs. External antennas, etc) • elements of campus policy that have to be met • basic SLA for monitoring and response and then let them propose to you what they have to offer. Otherwise the level of detail you are trying to hit sounds more like you are making up policy as you go in the RFP, telling them not just what you need but explicitly how to do it, and more looking for someone to be your contract workers than to be an autonomous third party that owns the responsibility and system. Just my two cents. I don’t envy you on this. -Lee Lee Badman | CWNE #200 | Network Architect Information Technology Services 206 Machinery Hall 120 Smith Drive Syracuse, New York 13244 t 315.443.3003 f 315.443.4325 e [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> w its.syr.edu<http://its.syr.edu/> SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY syr.edu<http://syr.edu/> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brian Helman Sent: Monday, November 14, 2016 9:54 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outsourcing ResNet wireless and wired networks We are in the process of issuing an RFP to investigate the feasibility of outsourcing our ResNet services (both wired and wireless). The RFP is in its first draft. I need to sit down this week and make edit suggestions – identify omissions and additions, as well as verify technology and requirements. I haven’t read the draft yet. My thought processes was to identify what was important, in my opinion, first and then read the draft to make sure they are there and/or clearly defined. There are a few items I’m not sure about. I’m trying to wrap my head around how it would work. The following is a list of thoughts (in no particular order other than how they popped into my head). I’ve commented briefly on a couple items, to clarify my reasoning. If I could get comments (offline is fine, if you’d prefer), it would be most appreciated. • Lease-to-own option – if we do outsource, I want to make sure we don’t have to install wireless in every dorm simultaneously if we don’t renew the contract. • Stipulate the RFP may not necessarily result in a contract – if the bids are insufficient or too expensive • Verify an “out” clause in contract; what terms would define this? • SLA’s? What metrics? o Someone on site every day (weekends/nights?) for support (note: we are not a 24-hour shop, but we do monitor for major outages that would be dealt with if an off-hour outage occurred). o Specify minimum accepted signal strength (using what device .. mobile phone, tablet, PC?) • Require cabling support MGBase-T standards – note: at least one vendor has said their standard is 1Gbs over Cat5 at 150’ or less. As far as I know, no such standard exists. Comments? • Wave-2 – not sure I would install less than most recent technology right now • SSID’s – same as institution, or new? 1x or not? Interface to our RADIUS or hand off account files? • Should NAC be required – not for necessarily for policy, but for consistency as they go from res halls to classrooms. Do I care (how is this different than going from home to classrooms)? • Placement of access points – require to be mounted? Require where to be mounted (e.g ceiling vs walls)? Means and methods need to be specified in RFP. How are non-SLA outages (e.g broken/stolen devices) dealt with? • Who’s Internet pipe is used? – is the wireless/wired service outsourced and then routed over our network to the ‘net? • How do we co-manage IDF’s that support both residents and staff – we have offices (e.g ResLife) in some res halls as well as meeting facilities • How do we co-manage wireless to provide it to staff, guests (guests of students; guests of the university) – see previous question • Are there PCI, FERPA, other regulatory issues to be concerned with? • Other? Thanks, Brian ____________________________________ Brian Helman, M.Ed | Director, ITS/Networking Services | •: 978.542.7272 Salem State University, 352 Lafayette St., Salem Massachusetts 01970 GPS: 42.502129, -70.894779 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found athttp://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found athttp://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
