Support or no support

[segment]

Quick questions for those in the know... I have a heck Point Enterprise Pro - VPN-1 Gateway for Unlimited Users, SMART Center Pro, version NGX (product name CPMP-VEPRO-U-NG) on an HP Pro Reliant. My subscription is about to expire so I would like to know the following... Is it worth re-subscribing with support? Being the price is almost doubling for me from 8,410.00 (without support) to 16,240.00 (with support). What has been the overall experiences with purchasing with support? I'd have to place one call per week to get my money's worth. Is it worth purchasing with support? Next question would be (and this is to clarify this to myself) "authorized"... Being most resellers are screaming "authorized" and making my bosses squeamish (academia land) can someone please iterate that a certification to manage Checkpoint does not invalidate support.

[JohnMH]

My two cents...

At the very least have lowest level of support with software upgrade.

I would rather keep 24x7 myself, no matter what you think you know, but I guess that depends on what your user population expects/tolerates for downtime.
Remember you get what you pay for, support is well worth it. Compared to having a problem you can't get help from the vendor in internet security area.

John