[c-nsp] SmartNet coverage on Cisco's chassis-based products

[Justin Shore]

I'm running into a bit of a problem with our 7600s and the SmartNet 
quotes I'm working on.  What I'm being told doesn't make sense to me and 
I'm hoping someone on the group can either shed some light on it, call 
BS or recommend a way to achieve what I'm after.

I'm working on SmartNet quotes to cover our ISP equipment including a 
pair of 7600s.  In the 7600s are a pair of 67xx linecards, FWSM, ACE, 
IPSec SPA and a single Sup720-3BXL.  The 7600s are built to be redundant 
so we've decided to put all the special service modules on 8x5xNBD 
(AR1).  However we wanted to keep the Sup on 24x7x4 (AR3).  Since the 
chassis components and linecards that don't require a dedicated SmartNet 
(67xx for example) are covered with the Sups this seemed like a good 
economic decision.

What I'm being told is that somehow all the components each chassis have 
somehow become related to each other and that they all items in each 
chassis must have the same service level.  I'm being told that I can't 
separate the FWSMs, ACEs, SPAs, etc from the SmartNet for the Sup and 
the rest of the components, even though they are separate line items on 
the quote.

This doesn't make any sense to me.  I could move the special SMs to a 
new chassis with 24x7x4 coverage the day I sign the 8x5xNBD contract and 
this imaginary bond between the linecards is broken.  What gives?  Is 
there certain language I should be using with the administrative folks 
(I'm assuming that they are non-technical folks) to help achieve the end 
goal?

The choice I'm faced with is I either cover everything at 24x7x4 or 
cover everything at 8x5xNBD.  The difference is about $20k for 1yr by my 
math.   It's going to be a hard enough sell getting the boss to spend 
How is everyone else handling this?

Thanks
  Justin