Decisions Required for the EMC DMX Series: DMX-3 and DMX-4 Affected!

If you are an EMC customer using the company’s DMX-3 and/or DMX-4 storage appliances, some immediate and long-term planning is in order. EMC is ending primary support for the DMX-4 in June of 2014, and the DMX-3 will follow 18 months later in December 2015.

The question facing data center and IT managers is whether an upgrade to an EMC Symmetrix VMAX or ExtremIO is warranted. If availability of support is a key consideration, rest assured that high-quality support will be offered long by third party EMC maintenance providers like Park Place Support Technologies, and it will continue long after these EOSL dates.

We understand that many prospective customers are at first apprehensive about third party EMC maintenance. Years ago, the alternative maintenance market providers didn’t have the support staff necessary to provide the support you need for equipment as complicated as the EMC DMX-3 and EMC DMX-4 series.

Fortunately, things have changed considerably over the past decade. The continued efforts by OEMs to leverage EOSL dates to compel hardware purchases, especially when combined with increasingly tight IT budgets, have encouraged premium quality, non-OEM maintenance providers to enter the market. Whereas there used to be a stark choice between low-cost, underperforming providers and high-cost, OEM service, there is now an option that delivers the best of both worlds!

Although we can’t speak to the policies and performance of every company, we are happy to share what sets Park Place Technologies apart from EMC and the third party maintenance competition:

• DMX-3 and DMX-4 series experts. Don’t assume that EMC is the sole resource for knowledgeable assistance with their hardware and firmware. We retain Level 3 engineers with exceptional depth of experience with the DMX-3 and DMX-4 products. And in contrast to EMC, you can speak with “your” engineer whenever you need to—no escalation procedure, no need to work through lesser talent before getting the service you deserve. In other words, EMC-level expertise without the EMC bureaucracy. Few providers can promise the same.
• Spare parts. Just as EMC isn’t the only source for talent, they aren’t the only option for spare parts. Park Place has depots stocked with quality spare parts located nationwide, and can even maintain kits at your site. A DMX failure is fully covered with us on your side.
• Better, more proactive service. We don’t care who you compare us with, we are confident we can beat their service in terms of quality, flexibility, and performance. We offer a wide range of contract options to meet your needs, exceed competitors’ SLAs, and provide assessment and monitoring as part of our standard contract to ensure your systems are always operating at their peak.
• Remote Notification. Park Place is notified directly of issues to your EMC DMX-3 and EMC DMX-4 arrays. No longer do you have to check for any failures.  We are aware of them and inform you when there is an issue.

If this combination of advantages cost more than EMC maintenance, we’d understand foot-dragging in advance of the DMX series EOSL dates. But since we save customers 30% to 70% versus EMC maintennace—and our prices compare favorably against other third party maintenance providers—there’s no reason to wait.

Do the research, starting with the free guide here. Then determine the future for your DMX-4 and DMX-3 storage appliances. With affordable, effective third party maintenance, that future might be much longer than you, or EMC, had anticipated.