Brocade DCX and DCX-4S EOSL—Are You Affected?

Park Place Hardware Maintenance


Eric Dancy November 14, 2019

In 2017, the $5.5 billion Broadcom acquisition of Brocade Communications Systems officially went through, but the consequences of the handover continue to reverberate today. Singapore-based Broadcom is working to leverage Brocade’s strength in the switch market to gain entry into key client accounts, but they have also made broad changes affecting Brocade equipment maintenance and service.

Effective November 14, 2019, certain 8 GB fibre channel switches are being added to the Brocade EOSL list. No longer covered will be DCX and DCX-4S models, as well as the DCX Port Blade Family. Customers are being redirected to the DCX8510 and DCX8518 as alternatives.

The earlier DCX and DCX-4S products have not been available for order since 2014 but continue to carry significant workload for enterprises around the world. They sit in front of a broad variety of SAN technologies, and many customers were not planning to upgrade in the near future. Now they must examine their long-term support options.

Post-EOSL Brocade Hardware Support

The good news is that high-quality Brocade hardware support is available from Park Place Technologies. We understand that the OEMs set their end of support life (EOSL) timing based on their own needs, not the customer’s. All too often, perfectly good equipment is declared obsolete by the OEM and customers are strongly encouraged to upgrade, even when newer models will not deliver sufficient added value in the environment to warrant the investment.

That’s why we offer customizable network maintenance services for a wide range of Brocade and other networking hardware, including post-EOSL equipment. Our contracts are offered at 50% off the cost of any OEM maintenance agreement, and yet we include more features and service, such as:

  • 24/7 equipment monitoring and automated triage and trouble-ticketing with our revolutionary ParkView infrastructure managed services
  • “Always on” customer service, delivered in the local language via our “follow the sun” global support center
  • Prompt access to a Level III engineer for any question or on-site troubleshooting or repair need
  • Complete spare parts management, leveraging over 1,800 depots worldwide and incorporating on-site kits for mission critical systems
  • A single pane of glass to monitor and manage everything—from equipment-specific contract settings to trouble ticket status—offered in Central Park, our online and mobile portal.

With these advantages, we outperform the OEMs on customers’ most critical metrics. We deliver a 31% faster mean-time-to-repair and boast a first-time-fix rate of over 97%. These achievements translate directly into more uptime for our clients.

There are many reasons to consider Park Place for third party hardware maintenance service. And for Brocade switches that are losing their support this week, there truly is no more affordable, higher performing option. Clients who keep this gear in place with Park Place standing behind it will most definitely be on to something good.

So what do you do from here to reap the full value of your Brocade network hardware investments? You may want to check out our post about why the ParkView automated support solution is such a good fit for Brocade equipment. Or dive right in and request a quote using the yellow box above, and you can find out how little it will cost to extend the lifespan of your fibre channel switches with best-in-class data center hardware maintenance.

About the Author

Eric Dancy, Manager, Solutions Engineering
Eric Dancy has been immersed in the technology industry for the past 12 years. Eric has successfully driven business through technology discussions in positions such as Sales Engineer and Solutions Architect. Eric remains focused on building client relationships and the remediation of customer pain points through his technical expertise.