Independent voice and data convergence specialist, CCI, beat serious competition to the post recently, when it secured a deal to install an end-to-end Lucent-branded network and PABX at the new SA premises of Sybase, a software vendor.
CCI`s CEO Steve Pinkney says his company came up against the likes of incumbent installer, Advanced Cabling (Dimension Data), and Computer Site Installations (CSI) for the contract, which originally envisaged installing only the cabling component of the system.
"I think the difference was that we were able to offer a one-vendor, end-to-end solution through our relationship with Lucent. Cisco equipment (Advanced Cabling) does not cover cabling, for instance. Lucent does," says Pinkney.
He adds that by offering one single point of contact for adds and changes and other support issues, an end-to-end solution has distinct advantages over others.
CCI`s solution includes laying 260 points of Lucent Systimax cabling, and installing a Lucent Eurogeneris PABX and two 48-port stackable Lucent switches.
Pinkney says it will take about a month to install the system, with engineers already on-site.
The contract is subject to normal service levels - which include a 15-year warranty on the cabling, and a one-year warranty on the installation.
Jan le Roux, Sybase South Africa professional services manager, says a variety of factors contributed to CCI`s success. "On aggregate, they were the best. Their existing clients are well-known companies, the quality of their work is beyond question and the price was reasonably good. What swung it for them, though, was the fact that they could offer a total solution from one vendor, which made it immeasurably better in terms of support than a multi-vendor solution."
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