Washburn University Wireless Network Infrastructure
RFP 70058 e-mail communications
Pages of e-mail correspondence between Washburn University and Xirrus, Inc were provided in response to a Kansas Open Records Act request. Below is a modified transcript of the pertinent points discussed in the emails that were available. Some editing was used to remove extemporaneous comments while maintaining the integrity of the correspondence.
09/30/07 Subject: Xirrus site survey results from Thursday
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Jon Freeman, XirrusHere are the results from Thursday's surveys. The price quote is being prepared now and will be verified and sent late Monday/Tuesday at the latest. Suggest we set a meeting to review with all decision makers the second week of October. This would be a chance for everyone to get their answers.
10/02/07 Subject: Wi-Fi proposal - WU Science, Nursing, LLC Housing
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Jon Freeman, XirrusWhen you are fairly sure this will go through, please let me know - I want to get our script kitty (application engineer Micah Frisby, Denver) introduced to you to begin working up the configurations. Yesterday I caught wind of a price increase on all the arrays planned for November 1st - please keep this in mind when you discuss this with the other decision makers. If you can pull the trigger on this quote; I will guarantee your price fixed at this level for 1 year. I would love the opportunity to discuss this with anyone in your purchasing or with the doctor and have time the week after next. I'm confident we can ease any concerns and show them the cost savings and value in this proposal. Thanks for the opportunity to come out and show you the Array. We're really looking forward to moving forward soon with Washburn (fingers crossed). And thanks for the KU contact name - haven't had the chance to call him yet but will try him today. Say high to Mike!
10/10/07 Subject: Announcement at Interop regarding .11n beta sites
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Jon Freeman, XirrusWould Washburn be ok with having their name mentioned in a list of half a dozen other customers in our press release on the .11n array beta? I know we probably already covered this but I just like to double check before doing anything publicly.
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUWhile we are interested, I don't think we have any .n arrays in place, what would the announcement cover? I'd have to get any publicity cleared through our CIO and possibly university relations, but I doubt it would be a problem.
10/15/07 Subject: Xirrus Site Surveys - finish all dorms
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUChanging date from Wed to Thurs
10/19/07 Subject:
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WULooking at the blueprints, Building 3 of Washburn Village might require an additional AP. The SE extension has a setback that the other side of BUilding 3 and the extension of Building 4 don't have. This will put even more distance between those dorms and the AP, we were having trouble making it to the back corner bedrooms as it was and that may just kill it. Let me know what you think. Let me know if your understanding is different.
12/06/07 Subject: Bidding Petro wireless project
To: Mel Ragar, WU
From: Kevin Halgren, WUIf I'm reading things correctly, DUke wants us to bid the Petro wireless project with individual Xirrus equipment model numbers to see if there is competition in this space. If that's the case, you should have everything you need to proceed and I'd like to get it bid ASAP. Let me know if your understanding is different
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Mel Ragar, WUI thought I understood from the meeting just before Thanksgiving that there were multiple suppliers of Xirrus equipment. Can you provide who they are?
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUCan you provide me with a list of vendors who can supply Xirrus equipment in our area?
12/07/07 Subject: Xirrus Sales
To: Kevin/Mel WU
From: Jon Freeman, XirrusPlease note string of email below that was in response to a similar question from Washburn on the Xirrus direct selling model.
12/13/07 Subject: Xirrus and Carnegie Mellon
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Jon Freeman, XirrusThought you'd like to hear the latest news on our end. I did speak with Dr. Gunter last week. He indicated the process did have to go to the board (Dec. 19). I'm not sure what happens after that though - anything you can do to fill me in would be great. I just need to set expectation internally to avoid any friction on our end over missing parts of our various free/discount offers.
01/02/08 Subject: APs Received
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUGod help me we actually got an order in! I have received the equipment and have a staff member doing an inventory check on it right now. We'd like to get the installation done between the 7th and 21st of January when classes start. If you have a formal list of prerequisites I'd be glad to review it and ensure that we are ready.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Jon Freeman, Xirrus... The big requirement is to have cable drops ready in the places we'll install the Arrays. This way you get our attention doing the physical install and configurations, versus helping pull cables. Micah will have other questions for you I'm sure - he likes to be prepared for the config before he gets there. Your time frame isn't an issue at all. In fact we have a bunch of things going on in KS now - survey the Century II convention center in Wichita and meetings planned with the Sheraton Overland Park, Durby SD and a retirement community up by you. Still need to punch through to your K-State contact; he must really not like sales people (grin).
01/03/08 Subject: Price Quote requested
To: Jon Freeman, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUCarrying on, I need to get a price quote for equipment for the following areas:
Quote 1: Stoffer Science Building
13 each - XS 3500 arrays, power injectors, power splitters
Quote 2: (Combined quote for the following)
West Hall - 2 each - XS 3500 arrays, power injectors, power splitters
Kuehne Hall - 2 each - XS 3500 arrays, power injectors, power splitters
Washburn Village - 12 each - XS 3500 arrays, power injectors, power splitters
LLC - 11 each - XS 3500 arrays, power injectors, power splitters
We'll see if we can get these through without so much trouble.
01/03/08 Subject: Quote Needed
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI need to provide a separate quote for a single 4 radio access point, power injector and power splitter for our library (Mabee Library). This was not a site previously surveyed, but they are needing to cover relatively high user density for a very limited area so a single AP should be more than sufficient. I need this as a separate quote.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusHere are 2 quotes, one for the 4 radio and one for the 8 radio. We have had a price increase and they will not allow me to quote the old pricing any longer, but we will honor the old quotes through the first quarter. With that said, I am not sure where your other order lies, but if you increase the number, you can purchase at last year's price
02/15/08 Subject: Xirrus Quotes
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusPlease find attached the quotes for Mabee and KTWU. We have done 2 quotes for Mabee so we could keep the price down for you. If all the money is not there yet, I will honor the discount level we are at on the quote if you need to piecemeal the order.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUCan I get the survey coverage maps as well? They will help with the presentation.
02/27/08 Subject: Xirrus Quote 2004BH Washburn Univ Rev 3
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusPlease find the updated quote as discussed with Bill. Pricing on this quote is valid through March 15, 2008.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUAre these units all 802.11n? I don't see that listed.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusThe quote has been revised to include the Enhanced Care with the 802.11n upgrade as requested.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI was under the impression that you were already shipping the 802.11n units, is that not the case?
03/03/08 Subject: Re: The Quote Has Been Revised
To: Renee Ennis, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUWe still have some issues on this quote:
For LLC: We do not need the AC power modules. SInce we will be using the 8-port power injector rack, I'm guessing we'll still need 8 power splitters at the array end.
For Mabee Library: There is no power splitter listed.
For KTWU: We should be quoting that at 4 XS 4 units (currently listed as 3). There should also be 4 enhanced care service contracts, 4 802.11n upgrades, 4 power injectors, and 4 power splitters.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusPlease note the quote attached is revision 5.
LLC: AC Power modules were removed, 8-port injector will power and remaining Array are showing being powered by the (3) injectors and splitters listed.
Library: No splitter is required with the XS8, the splitter is included in the Array.
KTWU: Revised with the correct amount of arrays for KTWU (4) enhanced care service contracts, (4) 802.11n upgrades, (4) power injectors, and (4) power splitters.
To: Renee Ennis, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUA couple more errors. On the first XS-3500-4, NA line item (for West Hall), the 28% discount isn't applied in the extended price. Down at the bottom of the list, the XA-3300-CC-BASE says it is discounted 50%, but the extended price only shows something on the order of a 25% discount.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusDuly noted. Changes have been made.
03/04/08 Subject: Library Revised
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI'm sorry to keep bugging you on this, but I keep getting asked more questions and about alternative proposals. For the library below, do you recall what the reasoning was for using an 8-radio unit instead of a 4-radio unit? Did it have to do with sector saturation?
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusWe did the sx8 for the user count and radio density. If I remember right there was a room that had a large amount of users.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUIt certainly would have a large number of users, but I'm not sure that we would ever have more than 60 clients per sector. However, I'm being asked if we think we could cover it with a 4-radio unit. I'm having trouble saying that we couldn't. Is there anything else I should be thinking of? If we can likely cover that with a 4-radio unit, I'll need another (I know, not again) heat map identical to the one below but with a 4-radio unit instead of an 8-radio unit.
03/10/08 Subject: Xirrus Quote 2004BH Washburn Univ Rev 5
To: Renee Ennis, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUHere we go again. Purchasing is asking for us to present things differently than what my boss wanted. Can we split this into 3 quotes, one for the student living areas, one for KTWU, and one for the Library? The student living areas should cover Kuehne, West, LLC and Washburn Village, as well as the management software. It should total up to $97,213. Additionally, I think the part numbers now are XS-4, not XS-3500-4, etc. for what its worth. The quote needs to reflect what we will actually be getting.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusOK, here are the quotes broken out as requested. I have attached the last revision (Rev6) for your comparison. Please check I need another set of eyes to look at this.
To: Renee Ennis, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI've gone ahead and modified the Rev 7 quote to include the XP8-MSI-H 8 port mid span injector rack. Total for that one is now $97,214. I need something to turn in right away, so I'm going to go with that, that's the same as what you had been quoting me. I don't need them in .pdf format.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Renee Ennis, XirrusForwarding you our quotes and price list was done hastily, so now that you have our price list, please use it as reference point for the future and with discretion.
To: Renee Ennis, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUWill do, and I will keep you informed of anything I'm working on. The only reason I chose to modify a quote as sent is that I'm under the gun and I was assuming that you would have no problem with the change.
03/14/08 Subject: Xirrus/WU
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusI wanted to check and see if everything passed yesterday at the board? Please let me know when you get a chance.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI haven't been told, but the board bumped their meeting to next Wednesday, so nothing has been done yet.
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusThat means it won't be placed today, right?
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUSorry, no. I didn't hear that they'd moved the date until today. I hadn't yet heard anything on Wednesday, ... and came in this morning and the first thing I did was check how the board responded and found out that they had moved the meeting date. I don't know when it got bumped, but it must have been pretty last minute or they didn't get the word out because as of Tuesday Dr. Gunter was still prepping for a Wednesday meeting
03/18/08 Subject: Xirrus
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusI wanted to check in and see if the software problem was fixed and that the board meeting for tomorrow is still on? Do you feel the order will be placed right away? We are again at the end of the qtr and want to make sure we get the PO in ASAP so we can ship the product this month.
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI thought the board meeting was Wednesday, I was misinformed, it is actually Friday. Additionally, we have run into a snag with purchasing regarding adding additional internet access, we are wanting to add an additional 20 Megs to our existing 30, and use a second ISP so we don't rely exclusively on AT&T. Mel wants us to bid that out and have it approved by the Board of Regents as well, we're likely going to have to fight him on this, and in the worst case if we lose it could be months before that bid process is done and approved by the Board. Since we are already tapping out our network bandwidth, Dr. Gunter doesn't want to do anything that might increase our internet usage, so he would be inclined to hold off our Xirrus purchase, even if approved, until we know that our additional internet bandwidth is coming on line. I'm sorry I can't give you any better information than that, but that's my situation right now. I'll follow up with you Monday and let you know where we stand.
03/18/08 Subject: Washburn University Re-Quote
To: Kevin Halgren, WU
From: Bill Hynes, XirrusI want to make sure everyone remembers that Xirrus has an increase in pricing on Jan 1, 2008. I have been able to hold the pricing for Washburn until the end of Q1 08. I have attached the last 3 quotes with the increased pricing and have stated such on each quote. I want Washburn to be able to capitalize on last year's pricing but if you wait until after March 28, 2008 it will be too late. The factory will not allow me to hold the pricing any longer. We don't need to install if the resources are not ready but we need to receive a PO so we can lock down the price this month. Please make sure Dr. Gunter and the Board of Regents understand the 32k increase. If needed I can extend terms to NET60 if needed to help alleviate the purchasing pain. If purchased before March 28th the total is $127,299. If purchased AFTER March 28th the total is $160,187. Increased difference of $32,888. Please let me know what I can do to help.
03/21/08 Subject: Xirrus
To: Bill Hynes, Xirrus
From: Kevin Halgren, WUI just got home and checked my e-mail. It was approved! We'll cut the PO Monday.