While I cannot speak to IBM gear specifically, I do have some useful thoughts from my experience:
A few years ago, I decided to get all my legacy (warranty-expired) equipment back on maintenance. Due to budgetary issues, we had let it lapse and basically used internal spare parts from retired systems. But that model can only last so long... Anyway, the first year I tried this, we used a company called DELTA for a few servers. My experience with them was not so great. Year after, we set SOME systems up with SMS. Not many, but enough to give them a test drive of sorts. MUCH better. This past year, we put ALL our warranty-expired systems on hardware support (next day, most of our stuff is not 'mission critical') through them. Comments and experiences: The third-party support model for hardware works quite well when you're the type of sysadmin that can properly diagnose the issues and deal with it. For me, 99% of the time I end up with a failed component (disk, a memory module, a fan, whatever) - and I call the 800-number. I always get a phone call from the local tech dude within a half hour, explain the problem, and we're off and running. Most of the time I just have him drop off the part because I'm busy, and can deal with the repair on my own schedule. For the few times I've needed them to do the work (replace motherboard for example), they have done a great job. Pros: Quick response. *Cost*, which last time I checked was anywhere from 2/3 to less than 1/2 of the cost of support from Oracle (for our Sun equipment) or Dell. Totally depends on make/model/etc. Getting legacy equipment that may have lapsed support is no big deal, unlike with Oracle or Dell where you may have to "qualify" old systems to be supported again, and pay extra to boot. With a company by SMS, you give them the serial number(s), done - it's covered. Extra legwork/debugging is usually not necessary. This is my biggest win. If I log a support call with Dell, you know how it goes-- get them the info... run things like a DSET report, they analyze it, etc etc. A typical support call can take at least a half hour or more. When I call SMS, the conversation is usually, "I need a replacement disk." "OK". We confirm the part number, done. Cons: Oracle and Dell will argue with you that if you go third party, you're not guaranteed OEM parts. No true in my experience. I assume SMS does things like buy up old (WORKING) stock, and uses those components. You may not necessarily get a NEW part, but you'll get the right part and it'll be fine. This may be a moot point, since even Dell uses refurbished parts for support... One other con deals with part availability. If you have a large number of a particular type of server, you may want to verify that SMS (or whomever) has parts for it - locally - so you can get quick turnaround. There's been a few instances where a part I needed took extra time to get. In *my* line of work, that's OK. We do research, so a little downtime (even a day) is usually not a super huge deal. I assume if you set up mission-critical support, they'll definitely stock what you need. They seem to be pretty flexible in this regard. Overall-- A company like SMS really works well for me. --Kent
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