🤝 Team of Suppliers

A Curated, Measurable, High-Integrity Ecosystem — Built for Outcomes & Evidence

No single vendor can cover every building, region, workload, and compliance target.
SolveForce’s Team of Suppliers is a curated, continuously benchmarked ecosystem of carriers, clouds, security platforms, UC/CCaaS providers, OEMs, field partners, and data-center operators—knit together by one operating model: Zero Trust by default, policy-as-code, and wired to evidence.

This page explains who we partner with (by category), how we select and manage them, what SLOs we enforce, and how it benefits you—from faster quotes to cleaner escalations and better contracts.

Related foundations:
• Technology Suite → /technology-suite
• Suite of Services → /suite-of-services
• Connectivity → /connectivity • Networks & DCs → /networks-and-data-centers
• Cloud → /cloud • Cybersecurity → /cybersecurity
• Voice/CCaaS → /hosted-voice • /ccaas • /sip-trunking
• Evidence & Ops → /siem-soar • /noc • /circuit-monitoring

🧭 Supplier Categories (what the ecosystem covers)

1) Access & Transport

2) SD-WAN, SASE & ZTNA Platforms

  • App-aware overlays, security stacks, and per-app access controls integrated with identity.
    → /sd-wan • /sase • /ztna

3) LAN / Wi-Fi / NAC & Switching

4) Cloud & Edge

5) Security Platforms

6) Voice & Contact Center

7) Private 5G / CBRS / Mobility

8) Colocation & DCI

  • Carrier-dense colos, cross-connects, and metro wavelength/DCI for low-latency interconnects.
    → /colocation • /wavelength

9) Backup, DR & Immutability

10) Data & AI Stack

🧪 How We Select & Manage Suppliers

We’re carrier- and vendor-neutral, but not hands-off. Every partner is mapped in a Supplier Graph—coverage, capability, compliance, sustainability, and commercial posture—updated continuously from quotes, orders, SLAs, ConMon, and ticket outcomes.

Evaluation lenses (abbreviated):

1) Technical Fit — architecture compatibility (e.g., supports Private Endpoints, 802.1X, MACsec/L1, IPv6, SR-IOV, API access).
2) Coverage & Diversity — metro/last-mile options, diversity letters (separate laterals/bridges/POPs), peering/routing posture.
3) SLA & SLO History — latency/jitter/loss, mean repair times, packet-dup readiness, brownout behavior.
4) Security & Compliance — SOC 2/ISO 27001, HIPAA/PCI overlays, NIST controls; BAAs/DPAs where required.
5) Commercials — rate cards, NRC/MRC, surge pricing rules, ETF clauses, renewal terms, benchmark to market.
6) Support & Automation — API/portal quality, change speed, escalation matrix, RFO/RCAs quality and timing.
7) ESG & Ethics — contractor safety/EHS, labor standards, data privacy handling, sustainability metrics.

Artifacts we keep for every supplier (exportable on request):

  • Rate cards & contracts with renewal/notice ticklers
  • Coverage maps and diversity letters
  • Product capability matrix (features & versions)
  • SLAs, SLO history, RFO/RCAs, change windows
  • Compliance attestations (SOC/ISO/HIPAA/PCI/FedRAMP where applicable)
  • API/portal access docs and automation runbooks

All of this is visible in our internal Knowledge Hub (customer-facing extracts live at /knowledge-hub) and streams to /siem-soar for evidence.

🛣️ Matching Suppliers to Your Use-Case (the playbook)

1) Intent & Constraints — business goal, data classes, SLOs, RTO/RPO, locations, lead time.
2) Topologies — hub/spoke, mesh, campus/canopy Wi-Fi, edge DCs, on-ramp mix.
3) Shortlist — 2–4 suppliers per segment (primary & backup), with diversity options.
4) Design-to-Quote — exact SKUs, handoffs, optics/cross-connects, Anycast plan, private endpoints.
5) SLA/SLO mapping — how carrier SLAs map to your SLOs (see table below).
6) Contracting — rate & term, E-rates/credits, BAAs/DPAs, addenda (DMARC policy, Private Link stance, etc.).
7) Turn-up — acceptance tests (RFC 2544/Y.1564, OTDR/light levels, ZTNA attach), artifacts stored to SIEM.
8) Operate — monitoring, ticket automation, and SOAR playbooks for reroute/rollback/escalation.
9) Optimize — QBRs, FinOps/TEM savings, cloud commitments, SaaS rationalization.
10) Renew or Replace — renewal cipher with evergreen benchmarks and notice windows.

📐 SLO Guardrails (what we hold suppliers to)

DomainKPI / SLO (p95 unless noted)Target (Recommended)
Access (DIA/Coax/5G)One-way latency (metro/regional)≤ 2–5 ms / ≤ 15–35 ms
Packet loss (sustained)< 0.1–0.3%
Jitter (one-way)≤ 15% of latency
Wavelength/DCIOne-way latency (metro)≤ 1–2 ms
Light level/FEC (alerts)Vendor spec, alert at 80% margin
SD-WANBrownout steer time≤ 1–3 s
SASE/SECZTNA attach (user→app)≤ 1–3 s
Voice/CCaaSCall setup / MOS (wideband)≤ 1–2 s / ≥ 4.1
Cloud on-rampAttach latency (metro→region edge)≤ 2–5 ms
Email authDMARC enforcementp=reject within 60–90 days
Backups/DRImmutability coverage (Tier-1)= 100%
EvidenceLog/metric delivery to SIEM≤ 60–120 s

Breach handling: we open a ticket, attach traces or tests; SOAR executes safe mitigations (reroute, packet duplication, capacity burst, WAF rule, ZTNA policy adjust) and escalates via the supplier matrix.

🧷 Escalation Matrix (how we keep pressure and speed)

1) T+0 — Automated ticket + evidence bundle (pCaps/traces/OTDR or NMS data).
2) T+30–60 min — Tier-2 supplier NOC engaged; joint bridge opened by our /noc.
3) T+2–4 h — Executive escalation if MTTR trend breached; alternate path in service (SD-WAN or secondary circuit).
4) T+24 h — Credit/dispute initiated with artifacts; RFO/Root Cause requested.
5) QBR — SLA scorecard reviewed; CAPA plan tracked in our GRC.
→ Evidence always attached to /siem-soar cases.

🧾 Contracts, Compliance & Data Processing

  • Shared Responsibility mapped per service (e.g., cloud vs. managed appliances).
  • BAAs/DPAs for PHI/PII; SOC2/ISO evidence packs collected; PCI AOCs for CDE-touching services.
  • Cloud adjacency inherits FedRAMP where applicable; deltas are documented in the SSP/POA&M.
    → See: /hipaa • /pci-dss • /nist • /fedramp • /grc

🧮 Benchmarking & TEM/FinOps (lower cost without losing quality)

We merge invoices, rate cards, and real usage into a canonical model, detect anomalies in days (not quarters), and drive actions: re-rate, pool plans, right-size circuits, commitments (RIs/SPs/CUDs), SaaS de-dup.
→ Explore: /expense-management • /finops

Example quick wins:

  • Move non-critical traffic to coax/fixed-wireless tertiary while keeping DIA + 5G for primary/secondary.
  • Buy wavelength at known low-latency corridors for DCI; keep Internet breakout for SaaS via SASE.
  • Consolidate SIP trunks with STIR/SHAKEN attestation; enforce E911/NG911.
  • Enforce DMARC p=reject; rotate DKIM; enable MTA-STS/TLS-RPT. → /email-auth

🧰 Field Services & Install Quality

For last-mile and on-prem tasks, we rely on vetted field partners: safety training, PPE compliance, badge/background checks, and photo/video evidence of work.
Acceptance packages include: pictures of handoffs, label maps, light-level sheets, RFC 2544/Y.1564 tests, and ZTNA attach screenshots.
→ Learn more: /field-services • /racks-pdu

🧑‍💼 Becoming a Supplier (onboarding steps)

1) Capability & Coverage — products, geos, APIs, SLAs/SLOs, compliance attestations.
2) Security & Compliance — SOC/ISO packs, DPAs/BAAs, vulnerability handling, incident comms plan.
3) Commercials — rate cards, standard terms, change windows, escalation contacts.
4) Operational Readiness — NOC bridge etiquette, ticket hooks/API, outage comms.
5) Pilot Orders — we test handoffs & SLAs; evidence stored in SIEM; QBR with CAPA (if needed).
6) Catalog Publish — goes live in our Supplier Graph, eligible for designs/quotes.

📊 What You Get as a Customer (benefits summary)

  • Speed to design & quote — we already know who covers your buildings or corridors.
  • Resilience by design — diversity letters, tertiary options (LTE/5G or satellite), and SD-WAN policies built in.
  • Security by default — ZTNA/SASE, email auth, WAF/DDoS, and keys/secret custody pre-negotiated.
  • Evidence on demand — logs, tests, and RCAs streamed to SIEM; monthly reports and QBR packs.
  • Lower total cost — benchmarked rates, commitments, and elimination of shelfware or zombie services.

❓ FAQ (short)

Q: Are you vendor-locked?
A: No. We’re vendor-neutral and switch suppliers when data—SLOs, RCAs, price—shows it’s right.

Q: How do you avoid overlap or finger-pointing?
A: One orchestration layer (SIEM/SOAR, NOC runbooks), one escalation matrix, and acceptance artifacts that prove each handoff.

Q: Can you adopt our preferred vendor?
A: Yes. We’ll onboard them into our Supplier Graph, validate SLAs, and integrate with our evidence pipeline.

Q: How do you handle regulated workloads?
A: With overlays (HIPAA/PCI/NIST/FedRAMP) and BAAs/DPAs/AOCs on file; see /grc & /nist.

📐 Example Supplier Scorecard (what we show at QBRs)

  • Availability & SLOs: uptime, latency/jitter/loss, attach/steer times
  • Support: MTTR, escalation responsiveness, RFO/RCA quality
  • Security/Compliance: audit pack freshness, incident posture, email/auth hygiene
  • Commercials: rate variance vs market, credits recovered, renewal risk
  • Automation: API coverage, change lead time, evidence delivery
  • Sustainability & Ethics: safety/EHS, privacy, ESG statements

All scorecards link to cases and artifacts in /siem-soar.

📞 Ready to tap the Team of Suppliers?