A smart way to evaluate your hardware maintenance expenses

When the brand becomes bloated: The Overvaluation of OEM Support

Instead of raising the price like OEMs or taking advantage of a captive market, third-party maintenance (TPM) companies provide the same quality enterprise hardware support as EMC, but at a reasonable price.

How is this possible?

Simply put, third-party maintenance has changed EMC’s business model on its head.

Let’s break it down.

We’ve compiled a set of storage equipment configurations from three major storage vendors: IBM, NetApp, and, of course, EMC. And in addition, we did a survey to compare how much each of the brands is the cost of maintenance through OEMs.

To estimate the off-line hardware, we chose support during business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with next business day on-site replacement. This is denoted for short by 9x5xNBD. And to estimate the support found in a typical production environment, we chose 24/7 support with 4-hour on-site replacement. This is indicated in short form by 24x7x4.

We then took those numbers and compared them to DC Parts’ respective third-party maintenance (TPM) prices.

The difference is striking.

You can see that TPM pricing is at a substantial discount compared to OEM support costs.

You might think that the OEM’s brand value has gone to the head as well. You may believe that OEMs decide they can charge more simply because of the names on their invoices.

Also, you would only be partially correct. Part of this is the cost of spare parts. And so is the cost of implementing engineers. All of this is just a psychological trick that we’ll discuss a little later. But, mainly, the difference is one of philosophy.

The Parts of It: How Maintenance Companies Get Lower Prices

When a piece of your hardware breaks down under a support contract, where do the replacement parts come from? Most TPM companies pull spare parts from a set of refurbished parts that have been specifically reserved for repair work. Most PMS suppliers prefer refurbished inventory over new parts because:

• New parts are initially more expensive than refurbished ones.
• New parts have not been tested as thoroughly as remanufactured parts have been.

It is a win-win situation for the maintenance provider, and it can also benefit the customer if the price is right. However, when companies like EMC decide to bundle these parts into their maintenance at an inflated price.

Customers can’t save money.

So, is it where do maintenance companies get these refurbished parts? The majority of OEM refurbished inventory comes from new equipment that has been returned to the OEM for any number of reasons such as rentals, sizing errors, or warranty returns.

The Global Game: The Global Capabilities of TPM Leaders

But through the buying and selling of parts, a large leasing network, and direct partnerships of companies, secondary market dealers (such as DC Parts) help create a market for refurbished equipment. When you combine this secondary market access with advanced global TPM capabilities, a provider like DC Parts can capitalize on differences in global list price, foreign market liquidations, and other arbitrage opportunities in the secondary hardware market for storage.

As a result, these TPMs often have even more access to parts and better prices than EMC.

TPMs with the features described above have the advantage of an internal inventory that is always fully stocked with a wide range of hardware.

What we’re saying is this: EMC ends up using the same parts that a TPM provider stores. But if you choose the EMC version, you pay much more for the same hardware. TPMs with a global reach, such as DC Parts, use their global reach to source parts from all over the world and thus secure those parts at the best possible prices.

The Dirty Side of Maintenance: EMC’s Dirty Little Secret

EMC views maintenance as an insurance policy. For the first two years, they refrain from charging too much because they don’t expect too many hardware failures and subsidize your costs by selling the new hardware you just bought. But after two to three years, this story changes. And the same is true of your maintenance account.

Already in the second year, but certainly in the third, they start to expect a more consistent failure rate from data center hardware. That means EMC also hopes to dip money into its pockets to send replacement hardware and certified engineers for on-site repairs. What they don’t tell you at first is that you’ll have to dig deep into your own pockets as well.

Also, you should remember what predominantly drives EMC – new hardware sales. That’s the dirty secret. Increasing support costs has the net effect of pushing you to new hardware, which will just start the vicious cycle all over again: wash, rinse, repeat. Nobody likes that kind of dirty laundry.

But what if you’re not on a three-year update cycle? What if your ROI calculations require you to keep the hardware for up to five or seven years? If so, be prepared to pay EMC for the privilege.

We see support differently: what support looks like at DC Parts

At DC Parts, we see IT support differently. While we want to profit from our business, we refuse to do so at the expense of yours – we want your success to be as much as ours. Thanks to the incessant advancement of technology, we have found that the price of hardware actually tends downward over time. If the cost of hardware decreases over time, why should the cost of support increase? Well, it shouldn’t, and if its done, then we think it’s a terrible thing.

Truth be told, this was our “aha” moment – we found a way to succeed by aligning our priorities with yours.

So, fortunately we have changed EMC’s traditional outsourced model of support on its head and now offer DC Parts at a price that typically beats EMC by 50-80%.

Join DC Parts in this mission to restore sanity to support contracts, and we guarantee that your support costs will never increase just because an arbitrary amount of time has passed. We’ll help you keep your hardware for as long as you want to keep your systems in service.

Still think it sounds too good to be true?

The significant cost savings from implementing TPM are not simply theoretical. We can show you.

Questions?

Call our product team at 011 3022-4694 or send an email to: contato@dcparts.com.br

Warranty:

All DC Parts hardware is fully tested, guaranteed, and comes with a 90-day warranty. Above all we will support you, before, during and after the sale.

Product Experience:

In other words, we know how important it is that you get the product you need to meet your need. And in addition, we have a serviced commercial team and agile logistics to enable the shortest possible delivery times.

Sending a proposal within 2 business days, we are lost in data centers and integrators and we always try to get the best price.

Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions about compatibility, condition or the best product available for your need.

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