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Questions and RFP Clarifications- WAN

added 10.30.19

Q: Will Putnam City Center be the hub?  
A: Yes

 

Q: What network design is the district looking for? Would a traditional Hub and Spoke suffice? 
A: Yes

 

Q: The RFP does not indicate what the district wants delivered at the hub? Are you asking/allowing over subscription? Basically, I'm asking if you want the sum of the parts to equal what is delivered at the hub. For example, if you want 1 Gb to be delivered to your 24 edge sites, then you would be asking for 24 Gb to be delivered at the hub. It is very common for districts to only clarify what they want delivered at their edge sites and to neglect to mention the hub. This allows incumbents to over-subscribe your network. 
A: Yes
 
Q:Will you allow alternate contract lengths? We typically offer districts 5 and 10 year contracts. The E-Rate Special Construction Rule allows district to drastically buy down their monthly for life. This rule is a game changer and we allow districts to pay off any remaining construction costs after Special Construction over 4 years. Using a three year contract would not allow you to take full advantage of the cost savings associated with Special Construction. Taking these savings into consideration show Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).  
A: No.  Max 5-year agreement, mutually agreed upon and annually approved by vote of our Board of Education.
 

added 10.7.19

Address Change:  Capps Middle School address change to 6400 NW 63rd Street, Warr Acres.  Address originally listed was the temporary construction address.

 

Questions and RFP Clarifications- Campus Switches

updated 2.26.19

Q: Do we need send a copy of our business license in with the RFP for the Campus Switching?
A: No, not unless requested.

 

Q: Question regarding Smartnet.  Are we to include at least 12 months of smartnet on the bid as presented on each school BOM?  I ask because of the included warranty that already comes with each switch as stated below from the Cisco website. 
A: Included warranty is sufficient for RFP response.  Managed service contract is not required.

 

Q:  Clarification on the Requested Switch Refresh RFP.  In Section 3. There are listed quantities of 26 MDF’s (C9500), 215 IDF’s (48P C9300), and 13 IDF’s (24P C9300).  However, based on the spreadsheet supplied we believe the correct amount is 26 MDF’s (C9500), 535 IDF’s (48P C9300), and 14 IDF’s (24P C9300).  Can you clarify that Section 3 quantities are incorrect and the correct quantities are in the spreadsheet. I have attached the count by location to validate.
A: The spreadsheet is accurate.

 

Q: Is your multimode cabling all OM3 compliant?
A: Specs for fiber says its OM# Lazer-optimized.  So we are assuming that is correct.  Link to specs

 

Q: Are you within 100M of each switch that will use the 40Gb/s links?
A: Most of them will be within 100M.  There might be one or two that are not.

 

Q: What speed will you connect the locations and will you terminate this on the C9500 switches?
A: Each site currently connects with a 1 gig copper link, except for PCN and that will need to connect it’s a 10 gig fiber link.  These will connect to the C9300 switches in the Main closets.

 

Questions and RFP Clarifications- Core Switches

updated 12.26.18

Q: RE: Solution Requirement 5.2 - Does the customer require the historic data analysis features to be configured as a part of this scope?  If "Yes", please provide specific goals and objectives for this configuration.

A: Yes.   We would like to be able to go back in time and look at network characteristics during an event for diagnostic purposes.

 

Q: RE: Solution Requirement 5.4 - Does the customer require the integration with the Palo Alto to be configured as a part of this scope?  If "Yes", please provide specific goals and objectives for this configuration.

A: Yes.   The goal would be increased security with minimal performance impact.

 

Q: RE: Solution Requirement 5.4 - What model Palo Alto and what software version is currently in service?

A:  Virtual machine, version 8.0.6-h3

 

Q: Does the customer have a second datacenter that requires interconnectivity with this datacenter?

A: Answer not posted publicly for security.

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.2  “There are 8 x2 optics modules that will need to be replaced; 7 LRM and 1 LR.”  Can you please expand on the “8 x2 modules that will need to be replaced” part of this statement.

A: X2 is just what type of gbic that was needed to match the port on the blade that it plugged into. 

 

Q: What equipment are the LRM optics uplinked with?  Can you please provide the length and type (OM1, OM2, OM3, 62.5 micron, 50 micron, or so on) of fiber the LRM optics are transmitting over?

A: 1 goes to a Cisco 4510 chassis switch,  fiber part# 024E88-33131-A3,  length is 1295’; 3 goes to Cisco 2960X switch;  fiber part# PDPK006EB3010/25; length < 75’; 1 goes to a 2960S switch, fiber# PDPK006EB3010/25, length < 75’; 2 goes between the 4507 switch to enable VSS mode; MM fiber patch cable connecting the two,  length 6’.  The VSS link modules could be ignored since the new stacks will have new faster links.

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.3  “There are also two Aruba wireless controllers connected at 40Gb-SR4 to each switch.”   Please confirm whether or not the solution should include the required optics for the proposed switches, as they are not included in the parts list on page 3, section 3.1.

A: The Aruba controllers are currently connected to the Dell S5000s with 3rd party optics.   If these optics will work in the new solution replacements would not be necessary.

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.5. “Move existing Aruba controllers to Arista 40Gb switches. (1 per)”. Does the “(1 per)” reference the total number of 40Gb links on each Aruba controller or the number of desired links between each 40Gb switch and each Aruba controller?

A: 1 40Gb link per controller, 2 total

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.6. “Move single 10Gb internet connection to new equipment”. What type of connectivity is currently used for the 10Gb uplink (twinax, SR, LRM, or so on)?

A: Currently it is using a 10GBase-LR SFP gbic.

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.7.  “Change current S5000 uplinks from 10Gb to 40Gb and move to new solution.”   Do the Dell S5000 switches currently have optical transceivers?  If so, what type and quantity of transceiver(s) are in each switch (SR4, Bi-Di, or so on)?  If not, are the Dell optics and fiber patch cables supposed to be included as part of the proposed solution.  What length do the fiber patch cables need to be?  Is the configuration of the Dell S5000 switches required to move them from 10Gb to 40Gb uplinks considered in-scope for this project?

A:   40Gb transceivers and cabling will be needed.   5 meters.   Changing the uplinks to 40Gbps is part of this project

 

Q: Page 4, Section 4.8. “Move six 10Gb connections from Dell FX chassis to Arista switches.”   Are these connections currently configured in a Port Channel or Link-Aggregation group? Is any configuration of the Dell FX chassis switch(es) to be considered as in-scope for this project?

A: They are in 3 separate port channels two ports in each.   Six per switch, twelve total.  I do not expect any changes will need to be made to the chassis switches.

 

Q: Page 11, Section E, Paragraph 1.  “The selected vendor must provide 24 hours by 7 days-a-week on-site repair and technical support plan.”  What term service contract is the district requesting for this service plan (1, 3, or 5 year)?

A: One year of service with a three-year option would be great.