Software streamlines design sales, quotation processes for network equipment vendors
September 12, 2005 Holmdel, NJ -- VPIsystems has introduced its VPIsolutionExpert, a software platform that automates network design and quotation processes for network equipment vendors. According to the company, by automatically generating accurate, low-cost proposals that are tightly aligned with customer requirements, the software allows vendors to overcome staffing constraints, pursue more business opportunities, and consistently win in competitive bidding situations.
The company says the platform also automatically generates a validated bill of material for each network location, further reducing the cost and time required to respond to business opportunities, while eliminating a common source of quotation errors. According to the company, the software has been proven in live conditions to reduce the total cost of equipment specified by vendors in their proposals to service providers by 20 - 40%. The platform supports the design of optical transmission systems covering a wide range of technologies, including SONET, SDH, Ethernet, and WDM (including ROADM), in both mesh and ring topologies.
"Network equipment vendors want to submit the optimal, most cost-effective design to their service provider customers every time. But with tight RFP deadlines, a limited number of skilled sales engineers available, and product lines that are always in flux, that's not what always happens in the real world," remarks John Holobinko, president and CEO of VPIsystems. "Vendors know that if the same RFP is given to three sales engineers, you end up with three different designs with different total prices, none of which is the least cost most optimum design. With VPIsolutionExpert, however, vendors can overcome these constraining factors and quickly deliver cost- and capability-optimized designs that meet their customers' need - and beat the competition."
According to the company, because it delivers all the foundational components necessary to automate design and quotation processes - including requirements definition, advanced network design algorithms, provisioning logic, and an intuitive GUI - the platform eliminates the substantial software development costs and technology management headaches that equipment vendors face when they attempt to build and maintain tools internally. The company says the platform also eliminates the risk of failure associated with such development projects, especially as network designs become more complex with new technologies such as ROADM, Ethernet, and SONET/SDH mesh networks. With the platform, according to the company, all vendors have to do is enter the specifications of their current product lines into the system.