The BlackBerry T-Support Program (now known as BlackBerry Technical Support Services (TSS) has changed considerably in recent months. Most notably, the pricing structure has changed. RIM has gone away from the combination of the number of production server and Smartphone calculations in favor of selecting a level of support and the number of deployed handhelds. You still need to provide the SRP key of all production BES servers, however, that is no longer part of the pricing calculation.
RIM has eliminated the T-Support levels of Tx1, Tx2, Tx3, Tx4 & Tx5 and simplified into three categories ("Standard", "Premium" and "Elite".)
In essence, here is the mapping:
* Tx1 & Tx2 = Standard
* Tx3 & Tx4 = Premium
* Tx5 (on steroids) = Elite
It appears to me that the "Standard" level provides a little cost savings to the smaller clients, but drops the quality of to encourage the mid-sized companies to step up to Premium Support. The same seems to have happened at the Premium level, former Tx3 customers are paying a little more, but also getting a straight to the DART team, while the former Tx4 clients are getting essentially the same support at a lower cost. With the cost of the Elite program, I believe there will be VERY few clients to sign up for this program. There are many more affordable options to receive far more for your money. For example, REGARD offers "tech-to-site" support and expert BES remote support at a fraction of the cost of RIM Direct.
The other VERY SIGNIFICANT change, is that BlackBerry customers receiving TSS support and software quotes from RIM Direct will now only receive quotes at full retail price. REGARD believes this is RIM's recognition that value-added resale partners (like REGARD) with locally available BlackBerry savvy technical resources can provide a greater value proposition to their customers in their local geographies by combining BlackBerry TSS along with their own support services.
In addition to REGARD R-Support, REGARD also offers BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 readiness assessments and training for BES Admin, Help Desk and end users.
Contact sales@regard.com to discuss how REGARD can save you significant amounts on your support renewal and software licenses.
