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Network operators today need new solutions to achieve smart, efficient, and ecologically responsible operations. Sagent is a comprehensive network support services provider helping network operators procure IT hardware less expensively, maintain it more efficiently, and maximize their return on network assets.

The company’s services and analytics offerings have caught the attention of some of the largest tier-1 telcos, cable MSOs, and network OEMs in more than 80 countries. The success is due in large part to Sagent’s ability to address two key concerns with network maintenance: cost and environmental impact.

In the 1990s, telecom and cable networks were well funded, but as the industry matured, pressures on capital and operating budgets increased. “Network operators need to allocate money carefully, but they want to be better environmental stewards as well,” said Gordon Smith, Sagent President and CEO.

Sagent responds with four main services: equipment decommissioning, resale, repair, and third-party maintenance. With decommissioning service, Sagent removes clients’ outdated network assets and will purchase functional hardware to repair, refurbish, and resell. The company also offers repair service for customers’ equipment for redeployment, as well as turnkey third party maintenance, an economical option for remote troubleshooting and on-site support and break/fix.

Together, these services contribute to a circular economy, the green market. Sagent empowers clients to extend hardware lifespan and get the most out of every manufactured piece of equipment while keeping components out of the e-waste streams. Sagent moves over 2 million assets per year back into field use and provides customers detailed data about the amount of plastic, PVC, aluminum, and other materials that were diverted from landfills.

Customers reap a huge financial advantage from this environmentally conscious approach to network asset management and also from Sagent’s innovations in business intelligence analytics.

“Because we eliminate 30 percent of repair scenarios, on average, clients save $3 for every dollar they pay us.”

With Sagent Insights, the company tracks all aspects of maintenance and repair events and empowers customers to drill down into the data on a granular level, to the individual technician, if desired. Sagent Insights helps clients identify opportunities to eliminate avoidable support activity and related costs.

“Truck rolls to respond to an outage are very expensive for our clients, overshadowing the associated hardware repair costs. Because we eliminate 30 percent of repair scenarios, on average, clients save $3 for every dollar they pay us,” says Smith.

For one tier-1 domestic wireless carrier, for example, Sagent took over repair of wireless assets, base stations, microwave transmitters, and other equipment. “We identified avoidable network failures, things like software or configuration issues that could have been fixed in the field. Then we stepped in to help them enhance technician training to improve their on-site, first-time fix rate, which substantially reduced logistics costs and improved uptime.”

Quick-turnaround repairs are delivered via a 14,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art lab in DFW, where technicians reverse engineer and develop test plans for equipment. “Inside the facility, our experienced staff conducts system-level testing across 10,000 different part numbers,” says Smith. Sagent also operates a 13,000 sq. ft. distribution space.

Sagent pursues a consultative approach to relieving customers’ biggest pain points, whether they are suffering from out-of-control capital spending on network equipment or inefficient, costly maintenance operations. Looking forward, Smith says, “We will be expanding to Latin America and Europe. We also see opportunities to take advantage of the convergence between IT and telecom networks and their shared need for white box solutions support.”