Important Announcement for Our MAS Clients
April 10th, 2017 by admin
Dear Valued Client;
As you have already been informed by ATS, Toshiba has announced they are "winding down" their operations for the telecommunications division as part of their global restructuring. ATS continues to stand committed to offering and maintaining the support of our Partner Plan clients. Part of this overall support is educating clients on scenarios where their systems might be impacted. Clients that still have Media Application Servers (MAS) deployed to support specific applications like voice mail, automated attendant, call center (ACD), ACD reporting are in a unique situation for support moving forward. Toshiba has announced that after May 20, 2017, the ability of transferring licenses for specific applications, like ACD, from the MAS unit to another unit will no longer be available. This leaves clients with these systems, two specific options: (1) migrate the licenses now maximizing the life of the systems and applications and ATS's support or (2) do nothing to the current environment understanding the potential increase risk.
Below are more details outlining both options:
Option 1: Upgrade server from MAS server to virtual iPedge App server.
Details: Until May 20, 2017, we have the capability to work with Toshiba and we can migrate your licenses from the current MAS server to a virtual IPedge App server. After May 20, 2017, based on what we have been told by Toshiba, any licenses on a MAS server cannot be migrated.
What does this mean?
If you migrate the MAS to the App Server in your current VMware environment, we will be able to retain the licenses you have already purchased and ATS will be able to extend the support of your current applications running on the MAS (VM/AA/ACD). Toshiba has informed us that the App Servers will be supported until 2022, extending the life of your Toshiba infrastructure for five years!
What if I don't have a VMware environment, or I can't add it to my current VM environment?
ATS can secure a server and create a new VM environment solely for these applications and seamlessly add it to your current infrastructure.
What will this cost me?
A specific quote will be provided to you for your specific design and applications.
Option 2: Do not migrate my licenses and keep my MAS unit in place.
Details: You can chose not to make any changes to your MAS environment. ATS will continue to offer partner plan support, but our capabilities and expectations for support will be modified. While our labor for service and guarantees for response times will remain intact, our guarantee for spare parts can no longer be guaranteed. If there are any service needs, ATS will continue to offer labor support to attempt to resolve any items. We are confident in our knowledge of the software and hardware to continue this support even though there will be very limited tech support available from Toshiba moving forward on the MAS platform. If there is a hardware failure ATS will make best efforts to restore the server under our normal support windows. However, if there is a major hardware failure and the server need to be replaced, ALL LICENSES WILL NOT BE RECOVERABLE. Therefore, our Partner Plan support will no longer cover the server and licenses and if there is a major hardware failure, the client will be required to purchase new licenses and a new server from ATS which is subject to total availability. ATS is planning on keeping some licenses and server spare parts on hand for these scenarios for our partner plan clients only. But ATS cannot guarantee licenses or parts will be available if you should experience a major failure.
What does this mean?
If you chose to keep your systems in tact as is, ATS will continue to offer support, but in a limited capacity. And if your server fails, you will have to buy new licenses which may or may not be available at the time of a failure. Additionally, if you do have a failure and we do have licenses, there could be some significant downtime (possibly up to 3-5 days) before ATS can re-establish a complete replacement and most likely, all historical information will be lost.
What will it cost me?
An exact number is hard to predict and is dependent on your applications running on the MAS unit, but our best guess is replacement costs will run between $6,000 and $15,000. Soft costs and loss of productivity costs are unique to each business.
Summary
In summary, ATS, nor anyone in our industry, never saw this turn of events coming with Toshiba's startling announcement. However, ATS is partnering with our clients to support and educate them on what this means to them specifically and identifying scenarios that will allow them to understand the risks, and create a plan that will allow them to maximize the life in their current Toshiba technology allowing clients to know they have support for the foreseeable future. This approach allows for proper planning with ATS to show you the options available for your next generation of voice technology.
Please contact your account manager, your Customer Advocate, or our Service Center so we can review your options more specifically with you. Call (800) 995-4287 or email at service@atscommunications.com.
Sincerely,
The ATS Team
Posted in: Company News, Support