Where can I go for (paid) network/protocol analysis services and consultancy?

I'm not too confident that this a good idea. People invest their spare time to keep this site running. Everybody tries to be polite to those who ask questions but also to those who provide answers, even if they might not always be correct. I have not seen any flame wars here and I really appreciate that!

If you bring in a commercial aspect, people could start "fighting/flaming" each other in the hope to get the job, which would make this site less attractive, at least for me.

One can already advertise services in his/her profile and a high Karma rate should show that the user has proved knowledge about wireshark and/or network analysis.

Furthermore there are other sites, dedicated to commercial support. Maybe it's a good idea to post a link to those sites somewhere here (FAQ ?) and then we can direct people to those sites. If one of the active users wishes to offer his/her services on these sites, he/she is free to do so, without interference with this site.

I think adding to the profile (that commercial support is available) is perfectly fine. I'm sure people looking for that will appreciate it, and it won't be "in your face"

@Kurt, one of the things I love about the Wireshark community is the fact that it is flamewar free. It has been since I joined the mailing-lists in 2005 and that spirit continues on ask.wireshark.org. I most certainly don't want that to chance and that is exactly why I asked this question.

I do want people to be able to find commercial support when they ask for it, but I do not want the conflict of interest by only mentioning my own business. That's why I think it's a good idea to have a transparant page to refer to where everybody gets an equal chance to promote their commercial support.

I think the point might be that not everyone who is answering questions here is also interested in doing "business case" analysis projects - simply because it may not be their work life job, and it also involves having procedures for professional consulting in place, and it is not simply "let's earn some money, and fast" - for me, consulting means providing honest services to a paying customer, and the ultimate goal must be to solve his problem as fast as possible. Which also means, that the guy taking the job has to take the repsonsibility for it, and that is something not everybody wants to do. Network analysis often is kind of a blame game, so analysis skills alone won't help - you also need to be a referee and a psychologist sometimes, so social skills need to be there, too :-)

A couple of us DO actually provide professional analysis services, so it might be nice to point out who theses people are if someone is looking for that kind of help. I see the point of getting possible fights about who is going to get the job, but I think it is a minor one:

1. First of all, network analysis is a big field, and if someone asks for an analysis with a certain protocol or application some of us might be able to help (because they have experience in that area) or they're not. I myself for example won't be able to help much if it comes to WiFi trouble (frequencies, distortions, beacon frames, association requests - just not my cup of tea :-)) , but someone else might.
2. And second, die job location will be a topic, because if travel is required it makes a huge difference if it is somewhere close or on the other side of the world.
3. Third - there is a timing issue, too - I for example am usually involved in a lot of projects all the time, so it's not like I always have time just when someone needs an analyst to be there next day. But someone else might.

I've been doing this type of analysis for many years as a consultant and as part of enterprise environments and would definitely favor folks like Sake or Jasper posting information about their consulting services somewhere here. I've only recently begun using this site in earnest, but appreciate that the answers posted are so in-depth. That being said, there are clearly instances where people just won't have the time to do the deep-dive analysis needed on some issues. In those cases, being able to identify consultants somehow could be highly beneficial for many folks. Perhaps a combination of ideas mentioned above would work? What if there were a "commercial analysis services" page within ask where each person offering services could add a brief description of their capabilities (including interest/expertise, locale/travel ability, time zone/hours of availability) and links to their full web site there. If your profile links back to that page, then you're not just pointing to your own services, but letting folks sample what else might be available.

Folks who need help would be able to narrow their search quickly then contact someone for more information.

I'm new - so maybe I'm missing something about protocol on the site, so feel free to enlighten me as needed.