FAQNetworkingAcademy Maintenance

Rev Date: June 25, 2007

What isNetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

Cisco® Networking Academy® Maintenance is a new service being offered as a pilot to our academies in the United States and Canada through August 2008. This new service is in direct response to our academies’desire to have an alternative maintenance option to Cisco SMARTnet. Unlike SMARTnet’s comprehensive coverage, Networking Academy Maintenance will offer only a subset of services.

What services and features are covered under NetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

The new service provides the following entitlements:

  • Technical and program support from the Networking Academy SupportDesk
  • Access to Cisco IOS®Software for equipment used in the NetworkingAcademy program
  • Access to Cisco Connection Online (CCO) information

Does NetworkingAcademy Maintenance provide access to CCO's extensive knowledgebase and tools covered under traditional SMARTnet agreements?

CiscoNetworkingAcademy Maintenance allows instructors to have individual privileged access accounts on CCO. Hence, all information available to instructors under traditional SMARTnet maintenance will still be available with Networking Academy Maintenance.

How does this differ from SMARTnet?

The largest difference from SMARTnet is that Networking Academy Maintenance provides no hardware support.

Which hardware products allow Cisco IOS Downloads underNetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance provides access to Cisco IOS Images and other necessary software for teaching the NetworkingAcademy curricula. A Networking Academy Maintenance Image & Hardware Support reference document is posted on the Tools page in Academy Connection. This document lists products that are covered by the maintenance service. Software products that are not listed within the reference document are not covered and should not be downloaded or used by academies.Back-end conformance auditing will be used to verify conformance to this policy.

With the introduction of NetworkingAcademy Maintenance do we still need SMARTnet?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance is no substitute for the comprehensive services and coverage offered by SMARTnet. The primary differentiator is that Networking Academy Maintenance offers no hardware support. Assuming that the pilot is a success and we are able to offer Networking Academy Maintenance as a viable service option, each academy will then need to assessits individual needs with regard to the service options that are available and determine which ones satisfy their coverage objectives.

Does this change anything with regard to SMARTnet and its equivalent offerings?

As mentioned previously, the only mechanism for an academy to secure hardware coverage for their lab equipment is to purchase SMARTnet. SMARTnet andor its equivalent service offering will continue to be availablegloballyto eligible academies at the preferred academy discounted rate.

Can my academy participate in NetworkingAcademy Maintenance and also carry SMARTnet for hardware coverage on certain products?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance and SMARTnet can be carried simultaneously by an individual academy. This is the recommended approach for any academy that chooses to protect their lab hardware with SMARTnet services.

What level of technical support is covered by NetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

The Support Desk will offer level-one technical support. However, since their reach will extend to the CiscoTechnical Assistance Center (TAC), this support level will cover technical issues up to the point of determining if the hardware is at fault. If the hardware is deemed to be the problem, the academy will need to decide how to proceed.Cisco offers hardware repairs to any Cisco customer.

From the above response, what does level-one technical support mean?

Level-one or first-level technical support designates the first contact in problem resolution. Many technical response teams use a tier structure that begins with levelone and spans to levelthree. Each tier introduces a higher level of technical expertise.Within our model, the Academy Support Desk will provide level-one support and will contact theCisco TAC for any higher-level support needs.

Do I need to register my academy’s equipment prior to usingNetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

During the sign-up process, the Support Desk will ask for each academy’s hardware inventory. The support Desk will not require this information prior to addingthe instructors to the Networking Academy Maintenance contract. However, we expect this information to be submitted to the Support Desk in a timely manner. After a significant statistical sample has been achieved, the hardware information will be used as a decision parameter when product enhancements are proposed. For that reason, we are only asking for the primary model numbers and equipment totals for each academy. We are hopeful that having this information will allow us to provide a higher-level of customer satisfaction with regard to introduction of new products and services.

Are the EoS/EoL products covered by NetworkingAcademyMaintenance such as 2500 Routers and 1900 Switches?

Please refer to the support document Networking Academy Maintenance Image & Hardware Support to determine what products are covered by Networking Academy Maintenance.While developing this new maintenance service we are also working on a policy for NetworkingAcademyend-of-life products. After this policy is finalized and published, the above document will reflect those policies by removing any products classified as unsupported by NetworkingAcademy. Restated, undocumented products are not supported by Networking Academy Maintenance.

What courses are supported by NetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance is structured to support Cisco hardware and software necessary to teach NetworkingAcademy courses. Therefore, it supports, or covers all courses. However, not allCisco courses require Cisco hardware and software. Therefore,

it’s best to consider coverage based on the hardware and software aspects and not view it as per-course coverage.

Is Linksys covered since it's now a product in the Cisco portfolio?

Yes, Linksys is included in the new CCNA courses and Networking Academy Maintenance covers those products.

Who qualifies for NetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

During the pilot phase (August 2007 to August 2008), only U.S. and Canadian academies are qualified to participate. The program is structured to provide worldwide support for all academies but we will only know whether we are able to extend the program after reviewing evaluations from the initial pilot. As the pilot progresses, we will have two feedback surveys for customer satisfaction and suggestions.We will take all of these factors into consideration to determine the long-term viability of the service.

How much does NetworkingAcademyMaintenance cost annually?

During the pilot phase, the cost for Networking Academy Maintenance is being donated to the academies by Cisco. Costs and services may change after the pilot phase. All participants will have an opportunity to reassess their participation and optin or optout if the service structure changes.

How do I sign-up for NetworkingAcademy Maintenance?

The sign-up process for Networking Academy Maintenance begins by opening a ticket with the Academy Support Desk. Your legal main contact (LMC) should open the case on behalf of your academy and all participating instructors. Requiredinformation about each instructor will be submitted and the Support Desk will validate the information.If everything is accurate, the Support Desk will forward a document entitled Networking Academy Maintenance Acceptable & Expected Use Policy. This document must be reviewed by each participating instructor at the academy. The owner of the ticket (the LMC) will then acknowledge that the policy has been read and accepted by all participants. At that point, the Support Desk will complete the process by moving the academy under the new maintenance contract and closing the ticket.

Our LMC information is outdated. How can I update it?

  1. Login to Academy Connection
  2. From the Administrator Home page, click theacademy name inthe 'Manage My Academies' section
  3. Click View/Edit Academy Information under 'Administer Academy'
  4. In the green bar with 'Academy Details', click Edit Academy Information
  5. Scroll down to Legal Main Contact and enter the first name, last name, and e-mail address of the new LMC.If the new LMC already has an Academy Connection account, enter the e-mail address from that account.
  6. Click Continuethrough the pages that appear
  7. Click Submit

The pilot is for the U.S./Canada Theater only. How long does this pilot last?

The initial pilot for the U.S. and Canadian Theater will end August 2008. At that time,we will evaluate the program for costs and long-term viability. We hope to then continue the service and extend it to other parts of the world.

Will NetworkingAcademy Maintenance be offered worldwide to academies?

After the initial pilot is complete, we hope to evaluate the results and find a way to offer Networking Academy Maintenance across all theaters globally. Those decisions cannot be made at this time since the pilot extends through August 2008.

Does NetworkingAcademy Maintenance only cover equipment for CCNA or does it

cover all my hardware for all my NetworkingAcademy Classes?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance is a service offering for any and all Cisco-based hardware used to teach CiscoNetworkingAcademycourses. This includes all curricula offerings including the Cisco CCNA® Discovery and Exploration courses, Cisco CCNP® courses, Network Security, Fundamentals of Wireless LANs and any future curricula offerings that use Cisco products.

Does obtaining technical support from the Support Desk mean that the tiered support structure within the academy is being changed?

The creation of this service structure was developed to address the need to provide a managed maintenance service. This new structure is meant to supplement the existing tiered support models in place across the various theaters.

How will technical support be handled in other locations?

Our ability to scale the technical support function across all NetworkingAcademytheaters is one of the factors that will need to be evaluated at the end of the pilot phase. Anyfuture implementation will be predicated based on the number of anticipated calls and how best to extend the service offering to allow for 24-hour contact and support.

How does NetworkingAcademy Maintenance differ from Partner Initiated Customer Access (PICA)?

NetworkingAcademy Maintenance is structured very similarly to Cisco's Partner Initiated Customer Access (PICA) Tool,through which a partner arbitrates the service contract administration for multiple customers. The Academy Support Desk, under the direction of Cisco Learning Institute, is taking on a new role to add first-level technical support to its case handling services. Now, under Networking Academy Maintenance, when an academy has an administrative or technical issue, they will first contact the Support Desk for assistance.