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STATE
OF ARIZONA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TelcoControl:
Easy Website Optimizes School Districts’ Buying Power for Telecommunications
Services (December 20, 2001 – PHOENIX) The Government Information Technology Agency in partnership with the Arizona State Procurement Office announced today the release of “TelcoControl,” a new, online tool to help school districts determine the best prices and services for their telecommunications needs. TelcoControl offers state contract pricing for carrier information in real-time quotes and bids for school districts and other state contract buyers. The new TelcoControl website is a simple “e-channel,” easy to learn and use, and enables 24 hour access, 7 days a week quoting, buying and life-cycle management. TelcoControl is available to all buyers for no charge, it is simple and secure. The tool is available online at http://www.telcocontrol.com/ Rick Zelznak, Arizona’s Chief Information Officer and the Director of the Government Information Technology Agency, said, “The process of bidding and negotiating for telecommunication services across districts is a formidable task. Using the TelcoControl tool, a district can easily sort through state contracts online, while seamlessly comparing prices and increasing competition, all in real time.” The anticipated benefits of TelcoControl are increased competition of carriers on state contract, more productive sales processing and more responsive salespeople to meet districts’ needs. TelcoControl offers a broad view of buyer needs keyed to existing offerings from contract vendors and their partners, including: AT&T, Citizens, Cox, Global Crossing, GTECH, Qwest, Sprint, Winstar, MCI/WorldCom. TelcoControl enables an “E-Rate Configuration module,” which is capable of determining the specific bandwidth needs for the Arizona School Facilities Board’s Application Service Provider (ASP) - the educational software content for Arizona’s classrooms. John Adler, Director of the Arizona State Procurement Office, said, “The situation is ripe for change and school district buying managers need accurate and real-time information. TelcoControl is a win-win solution to improve access to telecommunications statewide and provide an online, web-enabled solution for districts to access 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” The anticipated result of TelcoControl is better utilization of existing carrier infrastructure statewide with optimized forecasting for telecommunications infrastructure build-out. The carrier services and telecommunications firms on state contract may submit bids or subcontract to find more opportunities, close more sales and better manage the carrier service fulfillment process. For more information, contact Rick Zelznak, Director of the Government Information Technology Agency, State of Arizona, at
rzelznak@azgita.gov
and (602) 340-9698, ext. 215, or John Adler, Director, Director State Procurement Office, State of Arizona at
john.adler@ad.state.az.us
and (602) 542-5911. |
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