Engineers

Engineers' Technical Capabilities and Skill Sets

Computrad in partnership with Trend who have a strategy to continue to develop the core competence of their engineers in Cisco, Nortel (formerly Bay) and 3Com as well as in network management, troubleshooting and network performance analysis.

Specific Training Courses and Accreditations

Cisco Systems

Computrad in partnership with Trend and Phoenix IT are able to offer the services of a Cisco Gold Partner utilising engineering resource

Computrad provide service through and are a partner of Trend Networks and Phoenix who are Cisco Gold Partner Certified

Many of Computrad Partner, Trend's field service engineers have attended and passed the Installation and Maintenance of Cisco Routers course (IMCR), and most have been on the Introduction of Cisco Router Configuration course (ICRC).

In addition, our partnership has specialists that have attended all the relevant Cisco technical support courses. This includes the IMCR and ICRC courses as well as the Advanced Cisco Router Configuration (ACRC), Configuration, Monitoring and Troubleshooting of Cisco Dial IP Services (CTDP), Cisco LAN Switch Configuration (CLSC) and Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting (CIT).

A number have successfully completed their Sylvan tests, passed the Lab test and become fully qualified Cisco Certified Internetworking engineers (CCIE's)

The Computrad/Trend Partnership are training other engineers and have Cisco Certified Network Associates (CCNAs) Cisco Certified Network Professionals (CCNPs), Cisco Certified Design Associates (CCDA) Cisco Certified Design Professionals and Channel Interface Processor Engineers (CIP) of which a number will soon be able to take their CCIE exams.

Computrad are able to access through their relationship with Trend excellent technical resource since Trend have a strong technical relationship with Cisco Systems.

Computrad via Trend have the resource of the Reseller Support Agreement (R.S.A.) in place with Cisco which is mandatory for all Gold Cisco Partners.

Through our partnership with Trend/Phoenix who are a Gold Partner and qualified for R.S.A, Trend has therefore satisfied Cisco's stringent auditing of its support capabilities in terms of technical resources, certifications, escalation procedures and facilities.

R.S.A. enables access to Cisco's wealth of technical services, often referred to as the "four pillars of support".

This entitles Computrad in partnership with Trend to offer:

• 24 hour second level access to Cisco TAC
• CCO (Cisco Web Site) Access at Partner Level
• Full Software download capability of IOS
• Advanced Hardware replacement as contingency to the Computrad/Trend Field Replacement Units.

Escalation to Cisco is via the TAC, where a simple priority system will ensure any problems are handled with appropriate urgency from query to network down situations. In the case of the latter, Cisco will apply resources 24 hours a day including software engineering if necessary until the network is stabilised. With the facility of PICA Computrad in partmership with Trend can enable the customers Web CCO access to track the progress of a TAC call and even add their own updates.

Combined with this investment in Cisco training and technology, Computrad in partnership with Trend's infrastructure and procedures which were audited by Cisco in the middle of 2001 which resulted in Trend achieving the Cisco Gold Partner Status - The highest level available from Cisco. These services are not sold directly through Trend but via Computrad as a accredited Trend Partner.

Nortel

Computrad via Trend who are an authorised support organisation for Nortel Networks products, holding a Specialist Support Partner (SSP) certification. As such, Computrad in partnership with Trend is committed to maintaining skills and resources to the highest levels of support of Nortel technologies. Computrad via Trend have gained access to Expert and Specialist certifications in Nortel's core technologies. These include Routing, Hubs and Switches and Network Management. Computrad's partnership with Trend whose technical support team currently have engineers with Nortel qualifications in all three disciplines. A continuous training and development plan is in place to expand on this over time to meet the demands of the business. Specialist Support Partner (SSP) is the highest level available from Nortel for non-reseller organizations.

3Com

Computrad are an accredited 3Com Silver Partner. In partnership with Trend the Field Service staff are capable of installing, troubleshooting and upgrading branch 3Com solutions. Higher skilled technical resources are required for some of the core 3Com Switching Products and Network Management suites. A considerable number of field service engineers have attended courses on both 3Com's current and legacy range of network products including the Superstack and Netbuilder family of products. In addition specialists have been trained on the Corebuilder and the Transcend Network Management platform. Computrad also have access to Trend resource and expertise on the older Linkbuilder, Lanplex and Oncore products as well as the Sonix and US Robotics products. 3Com halted the MNS training programme and other accreditations following their announcement to withdraw from the enterprise networking market. At that stage our partner had achieved 29 passes resulting in 4 MNS certications on LAN solutions, Lan Solutions Plus and WAN solutions. The most experienced of these networking engineers are capable of providing network consultancy on 3Com products and related technologies.

Other Current Equipment

Other current equipment that our partnership provides for are engineers and specialists who have been trained on the Cabletron, Madge, Shiva, Newbridge Mainstreet range, Ascend 400 and Pipeline 50, ACC's routers and the Micom range of multiplexers. We have the capability to support Foundry Networks, Extreme and Digital Network product sets.

Legacy Equipment

Computrad in partnership with Trend who have come from a Wide Area Networking background and have extensive experience in X.25 and Wide Area Networking technologies. This is demonstrated by the breadth of knowledge on Cray/Case/Dowty equipment such as DCX 840/850/860, the 8000 Series, 7150s and the more recent System Centres. Other equipment covered includes Ungermann Bass, Proteon and Retix as well as products such as Hughes, Gandalf, and Fivemere.

• Hardware Maintenance and ProActive Monitoring Maintenance Contracts
• Trouble Shooting
• Remote System Support
• Technical & User Training Courses
• Consultancy Services
• Infrastructure Design & Implementation
• Compliance and Corporate Governance Solutions
• Managed IT Services
• Service Desk
• Field Services
• Engineer Technical Capabilities and Skillsets
• Network Services
  • Common Services
  • NetCare
  • NetControl
  • NetSecure
  • NetConnect
  • ServicePack
  • Specialist Support Services
• Projects
• Systems Management