Does the webmaster count as technical?
>The PM3 is due to ship first week of October.
MU
All I know is that 'October' is the date I here. First week I haven't heard,
frankly I don't know for sure.
>The PM3 doesnt handle Channelized T1. Explain your answer please.
MU
At FCS the PM3 *does* handle Channelized T1 - but only for WAN routing.
It *does not* handle Channelized T1 for dialin. That *will* be a free
software upgrade. The plan is the ship it, add Channelized T1 dialin a short
time later, and channelized E1 dialin a short time after that.
>A PM3 unit purchased with 1 PRI can be upgraded to a 2 PRI in the field.
False. The motherboard on a 1PRI is populated with only on set of PRI
circuits and the sheetmetal doesn't have the holes for the other either.
>The cost to upgrade a PM3 1 PRI to a PM3 2 PRI is?
NULL - Meaningless question.
>A PM3 1 PRI unit will provide 23 ISDN or 23 Analog calls, not 24.
Correct for T1 based PRI. 23B+1D (Channelized dialin would be 24)
>The PM3 2 PRI unit will provide 47 ISDN or 47 Analog calls, not 48.
FALSE. *46* ISDN or *46* analog calls. 2 PRIs, each is 23B+D
Will will *not* support a shared D channel across both PRIs.
(Channelized dialin would be 48.)
>Livingston has a technical staff that fully understands PRI within the
>various regions throughout the US and has provisioning specifications they
>will provide to the ISP to help make the ordering of the PRI circuits easy
>and somewhat painless.
MU
I don't think even Dan Keigel "fully understands PRI withing the various
regions". We have a lot of information - yes. We have test sites in the
various regions to build experience - yes. We have ordering information we
hope will make life easier for ISPs - yes. We can predict the future and
anticipate every RBOC screwup - no.
>The ISP pricing is NOT an introductory price and will remain at that
>original offer price or lower.
MU
Watch your absolutes - this implies they will *never* increase. No one
can say that.
The ISP pricing is not an introductory offer and we do not have plans at
this time to change it in the foreseeable future. If the market changes,
or inflation goes nuts, or a meteor hits the board plant... Again, we
can't predict the future and sometimes plans have to change.
>A loyal ISP purchasing multiple PM3 units at once will receive addtional
>discounts beyond those listed on the ISP special pricing web page.
I'm not going to comment on this one, I'm not going to get in the middle
of a sales issue. Talk to sales or your regional rep if you want to try
to negotiate something special.
>If an ISP decides to go with PM3s they will be as pleased with their
>performance as they have been with the PM2 and OR products because
>Livingston has used COMOS as the core OS, has thoroughly beta tested the
>product, and is not rushing the product to market in a effort gain market
>share that would otherwise be lost to competitiors.
TRUE. I *honestly* do not feel we are rushing to market. In fact, we have
been working on it for some time and held off on talking about it until it
was basically finalized. The beta is still running, so I can't say with 100%
certainty that no problems will pop up - I think you'd all question my
honesty if I did. So far it has been fairly smooth. Some things came up
in the beta, but that is what betas are for, and they were addressed.
In fact, some things we are hoping to put in for FCS we don't talk about much
because we will hold them out unless we feel they have enough testing - and
add them in the next rev of software. Like multichassis multilink PPP - it
is running now, and it works, but code working in the lab or a couple of sites
is not quite the same thing as code working in a wide beta. Of course, it
isn't as complex as say Win95. ;-) We are committed to providing a product
as solid as we can produce.
Do I expect teething problems? I wouldn't be a realist if I didn't. It
is a new product, and new technology. We had some hiccups with the first
5BRI cards - and now I think they're pretty damn good cards. The PM-3
benefits from the general ISDN experience gained with the 5BRI - our
first ISDN product - so that helps.
Of course, I expect us to act quickly to address any problems or concerns
our users develop with the new product. Working with Livingston is a working
relationship - if the customer is willing to really work with us, we will
work with them to do what we can. We do drop the ball from time to time and
end up with egg on our face - but then again, so do some of the customers. ;-)
And when we screw up you'll see us come out and say "Hey, we screwed up". We
won't hide it or gloss over it.
Livingston is a different kind of company, which is why I believe we tend to
make such loyal customers - and the few who bitterly hate us because they
don't get how we work.
I'm personally excited about the PM-3, I think this is going to be a major
kick-ass product. I've known about it for a while, and I'll tell you, it
wasn't easy keeping quiet about it for as long as I had too... :-)
-MZ
-- Livingston Enterprises - Chair, Department of Interstitial Affairs Phone: 800-458-9966 510-426-0770 FAX: 510-426-8951 megazone@livingston.com For support requests: support@livingston.com <http://www.livingston.com/> Snail mail: 6920 Koll Center Parkway #220, Pleasanton, CA 94566 See me in person: Internet Expo, Boston, MA, October 16-17, Booth 422 ;-)