Denver, Colo. – July 16, 2010 – Global Technology Resources, Inc. (GTRI), a leading technology consulting provider, announced today it will provide the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cisco SMARTnet Maintenance and Advanced Services Support as an agent to the prime procurement contract holder, Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, Inc. Sword & Shield is a small business, headquartered in Knoxville, TN.
Effective April 28, 2010, Sword & Shield was awarded this $108 Million contract, issued by VA under the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) government-wide acquisition contract, with GTRI as an agent to provide support to VA offices nationwide. The contract term is through September 30, 2010, plus four one-year options.
As a result of the Sword & Shield-GTRI solution and this firm fixed price contract, VA anticipates saving more than $25 Million over the next five years for Cisco support coverage. In addition, VA implemented GTRI’s ONEportal, an online tool designed to organize their Cisco contracts into a streamlined system. ONEportal allows VA to quickly and easily accomplish tracking and monitoring inventory by region and serial number; moves, adds and changes; and the lifecycle of the equipment. By using ONEportal on a daily basis, VA maintains accurate and up-to-date contract inventory, while eliminating an equivalent of three months of man hours each year.
Sword & Shield President and CEO, John McNeely said, “We are pleased that our partnership with GTRI has delivered a savings opportunity for the VA and will allow the VA to experience the benefits of a more effective method for managing their Cisco SMARTnet contracts.”
Sword & Shield and GTRI developed a valued long-term relationship in providing IT products to VA during the previous Cisco SMARTnet Maintenance Support contract period August 2006 through April 2010, when GTRI was the prime. This led both companies to pursue and ultimately win, the current VA contract which also includes support for Cisco Advanced Services such as unified communications, wireless, security and data center optimization.
“We are looking forward to a long and mutually prosperous relationship with the VA,” Sjobakken continued. “In fact, GTRI also supports the VA philanthropically through the annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen, and the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, which are hosted in Denver this July.”
Prior to August 2006, VA maintained 508 Cisco SMARTnet Maintenance contracts for technical support services, with their field program offices individually administering the contracts, making management costly and ineffective. GTRI, with support from Cisco and VA, facilitated a mass consolidation of these contracts into 14, easy-to manage contracts, resulting in significant savings for VA.
Cisco SMARTnet is an award-winning technical support service that gives IT staff direct, anytime access to Cisco engineers and an extensive range of technical resources to help resolve critical network issues, including hardware replacement, ongoing operating system software updates, and proactive diagnostics. Cisco SMARTnet delivers rapid issue resolution, flexible device-by-device coverage and premium service options to help maximize operational efficiency.
GTRI has a dedicated Service Support team that provides customers with one point of contact for all Cisco SMARTnet inquiries including; renewals, coverage levels and installation sites, verifying serial numbers, co-terming end dates, consolidating contracts, providing pro-active quotes so equipment does not go unsupported, and multi-year contracts and leasing opportunities.
About GTRI
GTRI provides industry-leading consulting and technology services that help clients derive real business value from their technology investments. With deep foundations in both networking and data center technologies, we support clients across a broad spectrum of industries with IT strategy, planning, private and cloud architectures, implementation and IT operations. Learn more at dev.gtri.com.
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PRESS CONTACTS
Teresa Kloser
Global Technology Resources, Inc.
303-991-2153
tkloser@gtri.com
