Hi, things are running quite well for the OTRS project. Here some news and updates: - Training The http://www.linuxhotel.de/ is going to offer an OTRS admin training. It will be a 5 day course which starts at the 24th November. The real gurus can skip the first two days and buy the 3 last days only. The training will be made by OTRS core-devel-team members. There is no online information yet. Feel free to contact me to get some background info. A website wich additional info will be available asap. - Support => Early bird offer Some already know it and some are already using it. Now we provide it to all of you: An annual support package! It will be available for the public in some 6 weeks but we offer a special early bird discount of 10% for you. To get this discount you have to write me an e-mail within the next 10 days. Buying this support is good for you and it is a nice way to support the project. Curious? Here are some details: ---cut--- OTRS Technical Support OTRS Technical Support is designed to save time for those in charge of trouble ticket systems and to ensure proper functioning of the system at all times. With OTRS support you can get answers to all your OTRS related questions from the OTRS support team. The team solely consists of OTRS developers, who code the OTRS. For busy tech staffs, this can save you considerable time otherwise spent in research and experimentation. And as an extra plus, if you encounter urgent problems with OTRS, you will get help ASAP. Annual Support Packages We offer four levels of technical support: +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Standard | Advanced | | | Customer | Customer | |---------------------------------------------+-------------+-------------| |Entry |Unlimited e-mail dialogue with team | EUR 1,500 | EUR 2,500 | |Level |for 1 year | | | |--------+------------------------------------+-------------+-------------| |Primary |e-mail and login by team to your | EUR 4,000 | EUR 6,000 | | |servers | | | |--------+------------------------------------+-------------+-------------| |Enhanced|e-mail, login, and telephone | EUR 9,000 | EUR 12,000 | | |consultation | | | |--------+------------------------------------+-------------+-------------| |Premium |e-mail, login, and 24x7 telephone | EUR 35,000 | EUR 48,000 | | |for emergencies | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The local VAT or Mehrwertsteuer has to be added. The invoice can be split up into 12 shares (every month). Please add 5% for that. Checklist of Features by Support Level Here's a simple comparison chart summarizing the differences between the several levels of technical support packages offered by the OTRS Support Team. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | |Entry Level|Primary|Enhanced|Premium| |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Unlimited communication & personal | X | X | X | X | |replies via e-mail | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Access via e-mail direct to | X | X | X | X | |development engineers | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Escalation up to CTO when needed | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Advice on commands & utilities | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Advice on performance bottlenecks | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Advice on backup & recovery | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Advice on best database practises | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Advice on bugs, fixes, & upgrades | X | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Developer logins to your server for| | X | X | X | |mission-critical help | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Online help with crashes & recovery| | X | X | X | |(via e-mail) | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Online help with tuning & | | X | X | X | |optimization (via e-mail) | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Online help with bugs, fixes, & | | X | X | X | |upgrades (via e-mail) | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Includes all features of 'Login | | X | X | X | |Installation' help | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Custom OTRS packages built & | | X | X | X | |installed | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Check-up of OS kernel, library, & | | X | X | X | |file system dependencies | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Check-up of database configuration | | X | X | X | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Max developer log-on & major | | 4 | 6 | 12 | |project hours per month | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Live phone operators on duty at USA| | | X | X | |and Germany dispatch center | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Phone us 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Frankfurt | | | X | X | |time | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Phone us 9am-5pm Mon-Fri New York | | | X | X | |time | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Phone replies from developers | | | X | | |within 5 hours | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Phone replies from developers | | | | X | |within 2 hours | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Request by name individual | | | X | X | |developers | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Place emergency calls to developers| | | | X | |24x7, 365 days/year | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |Replies to emergency calls in 90 | | | | X | |minutes 24x7 | | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+-------+--------+-------| |One personal developer as your | | | | X | |regular liaison | | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Checklist to Determine Standard or Advanced Customer Status These criteria determine whether your use of OTRS qualifies you for the Standard customer discount price, or whether you would pay the Advanced customer full price. A Standard customer must fulfill *all* of the Standard criteria below at time of ordering. Otherwise you would be an Advanced customer. Advanced customers are those using more advanced database features, large scale systems, less common operating systems, or unique configurations. The Standard or Advanced distinction affects only prices. For example all "Entry Level" customers are entitled to the same amount of support whether they paid the Standard or Advanced price. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Standard Customer | Advanced Customer | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Target user |New, small, under development, |Mature, heavy usage, large| |(in general) | or lightly used sites with | or capacity sites, and | | | basic configurations. | sites with unique | | | | configurations or less | | | |common operating systems. | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |OTRS version | 1.x.x releases | all releases | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |OTRS | Use only a pre-built packages | Same, but also covers | |installation | (e.g. RPMs or our | custom installed patches | | |double-click-windows-installer)| | | | from otrs.org OR from a major | | | | os distributor (RedHat, SuSE, | | | | Debian, etc.) | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |OTRS upgrade |Will upgrade or patch if asked | Major version upgrades | | | by OTRS | optional | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Server OS |Linux, FreeBSD, Windows (XP/NT/| Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, | |platforms | 2000/Me) | Windows (XP/NT/2000/Me), | | | | HP-UX, AIX, SCO , | | | |Unixware, OpenUnix, Mac OS| | | | X, Irix, OpenBSD | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |used database| MySQL and Postgres (must be a |MySQL, Postgres and SAPDB | | | reasonably current release) | (must be a reasonably | | | | current release) | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |used | Apache (versions 1.3.x and |Apache (versions 1.3.x and| |webserver | 2.x.x) | 2.x.x) | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Server chip | x86 only | Any | |architectures| | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Server OS | Must be a reasonably current | Any release | |version | release | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Server OS, |Will upgrade or patch if asked | Major version upgrades | |database and | by OTRS | optional | |webserver | | | |upgrade | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Servers | 3 or fewer | Up to 10 | |running OTRS | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Server | 1 physical installation site | Max 3 physical | |locations | | installation sites | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Customer | 1 | Max 3 | |contact | | | |persons | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------| |Tickets per | Average 100 or less | Unlimited | |day | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---cut--- - conferences There will be an OTRS talk at the LinuxWorld in San Francisco and in Birmingham. I hope to see you there. - weekend Have a nice one! :-) take care Stefan -- Stefan Winter You are authorized to use all measures available to destroy the Enterpise. (Starfleet Command) "Star Trek"