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Engagements & Commercial Model

Pick the size of the first step.

Fixed-scope readiness sprints, embedded principal engineering pods, or platform operations with 24/7 emergency on-call and contractual service targets. Every engagement ships inside your repositories, with no vendor lock-in and no account-manager layer. All prices in USD.

Response
Within 1 business day
First conversation
With a principal engineer
Contracting
Short fixed-scope SOW or your MSA
IP ownership
Yours at each paid milestone
Platform Retainer billing cycle

Billing options apply to the Platform Retainer only. The assessment is a one-time fee; managed operations is quoted separately.

Procurement fast-track · Fixed scope

Assessment Sprint

Find out what actually breaks before you commit transformation budget.

$14,500fixed fee · 2-week embedded sprint

Day 1 starts after the agreed read-only access checklist is complete.

100% credited toward an Annual Platform Retainer when you convert within 30 days

Concrete deliverables included

  • Two-week embedded review across T1 infrastructure, T2 pipelines and T3 portals.
  • Live topology and blast-radius audit of the agreed Ericsson OSS/ENM, OpenShift, VMware/vSAN or hybrid cloud footprint.
  • Written target architecture with downloadable Mermaid (.mmd) source diagrams.
  • Wave-by-wave migration order with rollback plans, stop conditions and a “cost of doing nothing” risk matrix.
  • Executive and engineering readout with a fixed-scope backlog for Phase 2.
Illustrative example
Situation
You need a blueprint and dependency audit to modernize your OSS/ENM or hybrid cloud environment, with implementation quoted separately.
Starting point
Start with findings, a target architecture and a change sequence. Implementation is scoped separately.

Why a $14,500 fixed fee

Priced under $15,000, a level that falls within many directors’ and VPs’ purchasing authority, so the sprint can often start on a purchase order instead of a multi-month RFP. Confirm the threshold with your procurement team.

Book an assessmentView or export the two-page executive brief

Recommended

Platform Retainer

A paired principal engineering pod shipping weekly inside your delivery process.

$24,000/ month

Billed monthly · 30-day cancellation notice

How we deliver

  • Paired principal pod: 1 telecom/hybrid infrastructure lead and 1 DevSecOps/MCP/application lead, with 100–120 combined principal hours per month.
  • One active modernization workstream at a time, with weekly commits to your repositories through your review process.
  • T1–T3 execution: OpenShift restricted-v2 hardening, ENM mediation, VMware-to-KubeVirt cutovers, or Next.js/CAMARA portals.
  • Automated governance: GitLab CI, OPA/Kyverno policy-as-code, Argo CD GitOps and schema-restricted private MCP pre-flight checks.
  • Quarterly architecture and FinOps review with your leadership.
  • Business-hours SLA: four-hour engineering response target, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern.

The pod pairs a telecom/hybrid infrastructure lead with a DevSecOps, MCP and application lead against an agreed sprint backlog. $24,000/month buys 100–120 combined principal hours, not two full-time engineers; your SOW states the hours, the active workstream and the acceptance criteria.

Illustrative example
Situation
You have an agreed backlog of hybrid migrations, automation and internal portal or API delivery.
Starting point
Agree combined principal capacity, sprint goals and the response SLA; deliver changes in your repositories.
Start a retainer

Managed Orchestration

We own platform operations, with 24/7 emergency on-call and a contractual availability SLA.

From $34,500/ month

Custom-scoped per estate · annual commitment

Base tier covers up to 2 production OpenShift clusters and 1 regional Ericsson ENM or VMware vSAN estate

How we deliver

  • Everything in the Platform Retainer, plus 24/7/365 emergency on-call incident response.
  • Named principal engineers on your account, with no tiered L1 queue.
  • Contractual availability SLA at a 99.9% or 99.99% tier, scoped to the covered estate and its dependency boundaries.
  • Multi-vendor element management across RAN/Core mediation, the OpenShift fleet and hybrid storage.
  • Continuous audit and compliance evidence pipeline into your SIEM or evidence store for agreed controls; it supports your audit and does not imply certification.
  • Dedicated delivery and reliability lead with monthly SLO and error-budget reviews.
Illustrative example
Situation
Your migrated platform or multi-vendor estate needs ongoing operations and 24/7 escalation.
Starting point
Define covered systems, 24/7 emergency channels, maintenance windows, restoration targets and dependency exclusions before operations begin.
Talk to an engineer

We agree systems, deliverables, combined engineering capacity, support hours and acceptance criteria before work begins. The pod includes a four-business-hour response SLA during Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern time, excluding public holidays; response is distinct from restoration. Managed response, restoration and availability targets, emergency channels and dependency exclusions are contractual. Cloud usage, licenses and third-party fees are separate. Additional work requires an agreed scope and price.

Assessment credit: sign an Annual Platform Retainer or an annual Managed Orchestration agreement within 30 calendar days of the sprint read-out and the full $14,500 assessment fee is credited on your first annual invoice. This is an invoice credit, not a cash refund.

Fast-Track SOW ratesEstimates reviewed October 2026

Pricing simulator

Price your first 12 months and compare them with the alternatives

Our figures use the published prices and the expansion rates in our Fast-Track SOW order form. Every other figure is a SynapseTel estimate of typical US market terms, not a quote. Check them against your HR team’s loaded rates and your own vendor proposals.

Configure your estate

Engagement
Billing
1

1 workstream · 100–120 principal hrs/month in the base

2

Priced per pod, not per cluster or domain

1

Priced per pod, not per cluster or domain

The retainer covers one workstream and 100–120 combined principal hours a month, priced per pod, not per cluster. A second parallel workstream adds $14,500/month and 80 principal hours.

Your estimate

Your SynapseTel rate
$20,000/month effective
$302,500 · 12 monthly payments plus the Sprint−$48,000 · 2 months free−$14,500 · Sprint fee credited$240,000 net over 12 months
12 months vs. Enterprise hybrid-cloud MSP
Save $210,000 (47%)
Estimate: $450,000 · about 8 weeks of scoping before work starts (estimate)
Principal capacity and SOW terms
100–120 principal hrs/month
2 named principal leads (T1 + T2/T3) · 4-hour business-hours response target · you own the deliverables at each paid milestone
12-month total cost
  • SynapseTel Cloud · Platform Retainer$240,000

    2-week Sprint · read-only (STC-ONB-01)$20,000/month effective · Sprint fee credited

  • $716,000

    ~14 wks scoping (est.)Estimate: $54,000/month + $68,000 up front

  • $660,000

    ~13 wks scoping (est.)Estimate: $50,000/month + $60,000 up front

  • $450,000

    ~8 wks scoping (est.)Estimate: $35,000/month + $30,000 up front

  • $384,000

    ~6 wks scoping (est.)Estimate: $30,000/month + $24,000 up front

  • $519,000

    ~18 wks hiring and ramp-up (est.)Estimate: $39,500/month + $45,000 up front

Up front: discovery, recruiting or the Sprint fee12 months ongoing

Peer figures are estimates for a business-hours engineering pod. A 24/7 SLA-backed service from the same peer costs more; ask for it when you compare Managed Orchestration.

Compare against
What sits behind the price
DimensionSynapseTel CloudEnterprise hybrid-cloud MSP (estimate)
Who works on your accountA paired principal pod: a telecom and hybrid infrastructure lead and a DevSecOps, private MCP and application lead, both named in the SOW. Their earlier roles include Ericsson, Verizon, Zain, Digicel, Haitel and TempestNS.Often about 30% senior engineers on a leveraged team; ask who is named on your account
First response and startA principal engineer replies within one business day; the 2-week Assessment Sprint runs on read-only access (STC-ONB-01)Often about 8 weeks of scoping and onboarding before work starts
Coverage across T1 + T2 + T3One pod across Ericsson ENM, OpenShift restricted-v2, KubeVirt, private MCP and CAMARA portalsOften cloud and Kubernetes only; confirm telecom OSS/ENM coverage
AI and supply-chain governanceMCP tooling on self-hosted model endpoints inside your perimeter; Syft SBOMs, Trivy CVE gates, Cosign signing, OPA/Kyverno policies and human approval before each Argo CD syncVaries; ask where models run and who approves AI-proposed changes
Ownership and exitYou own the custom deliverables once each sprint or billing period is paid; stop after any stageOften 12- to 36-month minimum terms
  • Platform Retainer · Annual
  • Clusters · 2
  • ENM/vSAN domains · 1
  • Workstreams · 1 · 100–120 principal hrs/month
Review this scope with a principal engineer

Carries this configuration into your request. No sales gatekeeper: a principal engineer replies within one business day, and the two-page Fast-Track SOW uses the same rates.

Estimates reflect SynapseTel’s view of typical US market pricing and timelines as of October 2026. They are not quotes or a market average; actual figures vary by scope, region and vendor.

Zero-bloat engineering economics

Why a principal pod is priced like one senior hire, not an integrator team.

Global system integrators and legacy MSPs commonly quote $35,000 to $54,000 or more per month for a delivery pod (SynapseTel estimate; compare your own quotes). Part of that fee funds the account, project and coordination layers that sit between you and the engineers doing the work.

Your retainer funds principal engineering time only: no account executives, project managers or junior analysts are billed to your pod. Our engineers’ earlier roles include production work at Ericsson, Verizon, Zain, Digicel, Haitel and TempestNS, and they start from their own OpenShift restricted-v2, ENM mediation and schema-restricted MCP patterns rather than learning on your clock.

12-month market comparison

Twelve months of principal engineering: our retainer, in-house hires, a cloud MSP or a global GSI

Our column states published terms. The other three columns are SynapseTel estimates of typical US market ranges, not quotes. Check them against your HR team’s loaded rates and your own vendor proposals.

Twelve months of principal engineering: our retainer, in-house hires, a cloud MSP or a global GSI
Evaluation metricPublished termsSynapseTel Cloud (Annual Retainer)EstimateHiring 2 in-house seniors (US loaded)EstimateTraditional cloud MSPEstimateGlobal telco / infra GSI
12-month total investment$240,000 per year, with the $14,500 Sprint fee credited when you convert within 30 days$475,000–$530,000 per year: base salaries, about 28% benefits and recruiting$360,000–$450,000 per year: a discovery phase from $25,000 plus a monthly pod$580,000–$780,000 or more per year: a discovery phase from $65,000 plus project-management overhead
Time to first production commitWeeks, not months: the 2-week Assessment Sprint builds the backlog, and we target a first merge request in the retainer’s first week16–20 weeks for recruiting and ramp-up6–8 weeks for scoping and onboarding12–16 weeks for RFP and bench staffing
Cross-layer coverage (T1 + T2 + T3)Included in one pod: ENM/OpenShift, MCP-governed CI/CD and portalsTypically 2–3 separate hiresOften cloud and Kubernetes only; confirm telecom OSS/ENM coverageOften split across practice teams; confirm how handoffs and change orders work
Exit and handoverStop after any stage and keep the code and runbooks delivered at each paid milestoneKey-person and turnover riskOften 12- to 36-month minimum termsOften multi-year master agreements

Estimates reflect SynapseTel’s view of typical US market pricing and timelines as of October 2026. They are not quotes or a market average; actual figures vary by scope, region and vendor.

Pod allocation & scope guardrails

Procurement and scoping questions

How does the 100% Assessment Sprint credit work?

Sign an Annual Platform Retainer or an annual Managed Orchestration agreement within 30 calendar days of the sprint read-out and the full $14,500 fee is credited on the first invoice under that agreement. It is an invoice credit, not a cash refund. If you stop after the sprint, you keep every diagram, dependency map and migration runbook and can execute the plan with your own team.

How is the paired principal pod allocated?

One telecom/infrastructure architect and one DevSecOps/application engineer share 100–120 combined principal hours per month on one active workstream, planned in two-week sprints. That is allocated capacity, not two full-time engineers. Your SOW states the hours, the workstream and its acceptance criteria; a second workstream is scoped and priced separately.

Why is the Assessment Sprint priced at $14,500?

It covers 70–80 hours of principal diagnostic engineering across your estate. Keeping it under $15,000 puts it within many directors’ and VPs’ purchasing authority, so it can often start on a purchase order instead of a multi-month RFP. Confirm the threshold with your procurement team.

How are AI and MCP security boundaries enforced?

MCP servers expose only schema-restricted tools and run under read-scoped identities. Models can be self-hosted on OpenShift AI or vLLM inside your perimeter, so prompts and telemetry stay within your boundary. Every proposed change needs a named engineer’s approval before Argo CD syncs it.

How does Managed Orchestration scale above $34,500/month?

The base tier covers up to 2 production OpenShift clusters and 1 regional Ericsson ENM or VMware vSAN estate. Above that, price scales with cluster count, southbound network element volume and the contractual availability SLA tier (99.9% or 99.99%). We quote it per estate before you sign.

Who do we speak with on the first call?

You speak with the principal engineers who would lead the engagement. In a 30-minute architecture review we look at stack fit, dependencies and the most useful next step.

How quickly can the Platform Retainer pod onboard?

After NDA and SOW execution, VPN/bastion and repository onboarding typically takes 3–5 business days. We target a first production merge request in week one once access and your review process are ready. We agree combined engineering allocation and sprint goals in the SOW.

Do you support POs, custom MSAs and security questionnaires?

Yes. We support enterprise InfoSec questionnaires, negotiated MSAs, corporate purchase orders and agreed net terms, including ACH/wire payment. Review our published security and operational posture before scoping. Security & Operational Trust

When does the two-week Assessment clock start?

Day 1 begins only after a lightweight pre-flight checklist is complete: read-only access to topology documentation, pipeline configs, the agreed systems and repositories, plus stakeholder scheduling. Access-ticket delays do not consume the 10 business days.

Built to clear legal, security and vendor onboarding

What your procurement, legal and vendor risk management (VRM) teams ask for before approval, in one place, so the decision does not wait on a multi-week email chain.

VRM-01

US entity and billing

  • SYNAPSETEL CLOUD LLC, registered in Florida, United States (document number L26000459009)
  • W-9 on request
  • Purchase orders, agreed net terms and ACH or wire payment
  • Fixed fee for the assessment, monthly invoicing for the pod and milestones as your SOW sets them

VRM-02

Paperwork and redlines

  • Mutual NDA signed before architecture discovery or repository review
  • Negotiated MSAs, including your organization’s standard paper for retainers and managed operations
  • Every additional scope is quoted as a versioned document and approved before work starts, so no change order arrives unapproved
  • Response, restoration and availability targets written into the agreement

VRM-03

Security review, personnel and insurance

  • Published security policy and a downloadable security brief for your questionnaire
  • Questionnaire responses and engagement-specific evidence on request
  • US-based principal engineers, vetted and named for each engagement
  • Insurance certificates: ask, and we state what is held

VRM-04

IP ownership and data boundary

  • You own the code, manifests, Helm charts and runbooks delivered to your repositories at each paid milestone, as your SOW states
  • No customer PII or CPNI stored or processed on SynapseTel infrastructure
  • Least-privilege access through your identity provider, with hardware-backed MFA on our engineering endpoints

Compare deliverables, capacity and coverage

Compare a fixed assessment, allocated delivery capacity and estate-wide operational ownership.

Assessment Sprint

Best fit
Find out what actually breaks before you commit transformation budget.
Primary deliverables
Dependency graph, security audit, target architecture, migration/rollback sequence and executive readout.
Billing basis
$14,500 once
Capacity and coverage
10 business days after the read-only access checklist is complete.
Outside the agreed fee
Implementation and ongoing operations.

Platform Retainer

Best fit
A paired principal engineering pod shipping weekly inside your delivery process.
Primary deliverables
Terraform/OpenTofu, OpenShift, GitOps/MCP workflows, operator portals and API integrations.
Billing basis
$24,000 per month, or $240,000 upfront for 12 months
Capacity and coverage
100–120 combined principal hours per month on one active workstream; four-business-hour response during stated support hours.
Outside the agreed fee
Additional workstreams, unallocated full-time staffing and out-of-scope managed operations.

Managed Orchestration

Best fit
We own platform operations, with 24/7 emergency on-call and a contractual availability SLA.
Primary deliverables
Estate lifecycle management, operational runbooks, audit evidence and weekly service reviews.
Billing basis
From $34,500/month, scoped by cluster count, network elements and availability SLA tier
Capacity and coverage
24/7 emergency incident ownership; response, restoration and availability targets agreed per estate.
Outside the agreed fee
Uncontracted systems and carrier, hardware or third-party dependencies outside the agreed SLO boundary.

Start with a 30-minute architecture review

Review your estate, delivery constraints and first milestone with the engineers who would lead the work.

Choose an engagement and share the environment details. We will follow up to arrange the review and confirm scope.

What would you like to scope?

Need a W-9, a mutual NDA or our security brief for procurement review? Ask for the vendor onboarding packet in your request. An engineer replies within one business day. Procurement overview · Download our mutual NDA (PDF, English)

View or export the two-page executive briefSubmit a request