Avast Sales Support Lacking

General Topics
1

I have been trying to find out some very simple information from Avast Sales Staff prior to purchasing for my client. I was quoted solutions that were more expensive that what the online calculator suggested, quoted the wrong SBS software (SBS Premium as opposed to the one I needed Standard(dont need ISA support)), and quoted more Client Licenses than what I actually need (quoted 50, I need only 45). As impressed as I am with the software I am equally unimpressed with the sales staff thus far.

Here is the lowest of their initial quotes based on 1 SBS server, 45 end users, and 2 W2K3 application servers.

Maintenance (updates/upgrades) contract: 2 years Product Licenses Price avast! 4 SBS Premium Suite 50 x 49.36 USD 2 468.00 USD avast! 4 Server Edition 2 x 492.00 USD 984.00 USD Final price 3 452.00 USD

After receiving their quote I went back to the online calculator to plug in the right software revision and the right end-user count. True to form the online calcultor gave me lower pricing on the accurate software/client count and offered still lower solutions using their suite packages.

Here’s what it gave me:

Length of maintenance contract: 2 year(s)

Product label licences price
avast! 4 Standard Suite 10 x 60.74 USD 607.40 USD
avast! 4 SBS Edition Standard 35 x 34.64 USD 1212.40 USD
Final price for this configuration: 1819.80 USD (VAT not included)

Naturally to be accurate I wrote to Avast Sales to ask if they could validate the accuracy of the above quote before I committed my clients money.

Here is their response:

Hi Allan,

if you have 45 workstations the cheapest solution is the one stated in the quote.

Kindest regards,

Dr. Christian Cantoro
avast! sales

I am unimpressed. Perhaps others should be too.

2

Maybe you can send an email to sales (at) avast.com and ask for help :wink:

3

He has, that is what this is all about (he has quoted their response), he also has another topic on this.

4

I did email them…the posting are from the correspondence between us. I’m more than a little disappointed. I would think what I’m seeking clarification on would be pretty simple for a sales rep.

5

I think if i was me i would contact the support or wait a member of the team that contact you :slight_smile:

I hope you are patient i feel sorry for you.

PS : You do a good choice for select Avast! as your anti virus. I used it for 2-3 years and i can say its great. Im sure you will enjoy it.

Mr.Agent

6

Agent,

I have written them and I’m getting weak closed minded responses from this Dr. Cantreo. My view: The product, it appears, is far superior to their sales and support. Disappointing to say the least.

7

Hi the calculation is following…

You need:
45x Professional Edition to protect the workstations
45x SBS Server Edition to protect the SBS Server and the clients (licensed CAL)
2x Server Edition to secure the 2 Windows Server 2003

And the easiest way is to purchase:
45x SBS Suite for 2337 USD - because the SBS Suite also include the Professional Edition licenses and it’s cheaper than buy separately
2x Server Edition for 984 USD

TOTAL: 3321 USD

Meanwhile this is not the cheapest solution for your configuration due to the volume discounts…
The cheapest one is:
50x SBS Suite for 2092 USD
2x Server Edition for 984

TOTAL: 3076 USD

and you got even 5 more licenses :wink:

I hope it’s clarified now.

8

not really. Why do I need 90 CALS?

Wouldn’t 35 CALs with the SBS solution and 10 CALs that come with the Standard Suite solution do just as well and far cheaper?

My only question really is the Standard Suite Cals…it states the suite comes with 10 cals two of which could be servers.

so essentially I’d end up with 1 CAL for SBS, 2 Cals for w2k3 server, and 43 cals for PRO (workstations) for about $1900. Is that accurate?

9

Because the license of SBS Server Edition doesn’t protect the workstations.Only the server. But as there is 45 clients connecting to this server, so to protect the SBS Server you need 45 CALs.
Then you need 45 licenses to protect the workstations.
And finally 2 licenses for Windows 2003 Servers.

I hope you are aware of the difference how Microsoft is licensing these 2 products SBS vs Windows Server.

SBS is licensed according to the number of clients connecting, Windows Server by the machines.

So the idea 45+1+2 is not correct. You simply need 45+45+2.

If you don’t mind having more licenses than 45, for cheaper price, you can use following combination:

10x Standard Suite for 607 USD. from this package you use 2 licenses for the Windows Servers
50x SBS Suite for 2092 USD

TOTAL = 2699 USD

Ok you got more licenses than you needed but for lower price, due to our aggresive volume discounts.
So at the end you got covered 2 Windows Servers, SBS Server, 45 workstations and extra 13 licenses of Professional Edition.

In your first calculation in online calculator you didn’t covered the workstations just servers. That makes the price difference.

Hope this helps.

10

yes, as bizarre as this may sound I have a decent understanding of MS licensing.

But the question still remains if I’m buying two Avast Suites…the SBS Suite includes the SBS server and “X” Clients (in this case 35) & the Standard Suite includes 10 Licenses by default (2 server and 8 Workstations: defined from the website)…how is that not more accurate, equally legitimate, and far cheaper than the quotes I’m getting. All of these servers are part of the same domain and all use the same SBS server for DNS and authentication. The application servers are simply members of the domain.

Wouldn’t the SBS Suite and its clients be sufficient without purchasing duplicate PRO licenses? I would think the SBS Suite is natively engineered and intended to cover a SBS server with concurrent connections AND its clients.

I apologize if I’m making this more complicated than is necessary. But the Online calculator is the one who suggested this scenario…I’m just trying to ensure I make the right purchase for my client.