[mcooper7290]

Does anybody have experience with any third-party (non-IBM) companies which do hardware repair for pSeries? I'm looking for both one-time fee based options as well as traditional "maintenance contract" options. Just need hardware not software.

The reason for this is IBM's hardware maint prices on older systems like the 7029 is more than the cost of the system itself in general.

Thanks.

[dig1tal]

Originally Posted by mcooper7290

Does anybody have experience with any third-party (non-IBM) companies which do hardware repair for pSeries? I'm looking for both one-time fee based options as well as traditional "maintenance contract" options. Just need hardware not software.

The reason for this is IBM's hardware maint prices on older systems like the 7029 is more than the cost of the system itself in general.

Thanks.

i agree, maintenance waranties for older ibm systems and devices are outrageous. they really have it setup so you're screwed either way. if you find a good 3rd party and it works for you, keep us posted.

[rodak]

We've had our RS6000 (including several pSeries) maintenance with Sun (formerly Storage Tek) for several years now. While I must say that administratively (particularly getting new servers added to the contract) they suck big-time, they have never failed to repair any of my gear in a timely manner. They're pretty laid back about things at the field engineer level, too - Even if one of my systems isn't explicitly on the contract, they'll come out and fix it, and take my word for the fact that I DID submit the system to be added. Also, they're not as starched as IBM about what components are in the system 3rd party gear doesn't faze them. I have one system covered by IBM support and I had a Mammoth tape drive that went bad. IBM said "sorry, it's not IBM - too bad". Sun wouldn't have blinked an eye - they'd have replaced it, no questions asked.