End of Support Life on EMC DMX-4
Park Place Hardware Maintenance
The OEM maintenance lifespan for EMC DMX-4 is dwindling away. Though boasting a later release date than the DMX-3—with key enhancements like flash drives that had even the non-tech press abuzz—EMC is actually pulling the plug on primary support sooner for the DMX-4. Come June 30, 2014, EMC will no longer offer contracts on this high-end storage array, once the world’s largest.
Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to the OEM end-of-life timing. In our opinion, it all comes down to marketing. According to EMC, it’s time for you to invest in something new. According to us, you have other options.
Ahead of its Time
The EMC DMX-4 and its end-to-end 4 Gbit/sec. functionality, Fibre Channel back-end plane, and updated Enginuity storage operating system represented a hefty investment. Computer World put it in the $250,000 range, but highlighted innovations, such as ones that enabled organizations to trim energy consumption by as much as 33%.
Enterprise Flash Drives announced in 2008 took the DMX-4 to another level. Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at ESG, said in Tech World that it “could very well be one of those killer advantages that only appear every 10 to 15 years.”
In other words, the EMC DMX-4 was far ahead of its time, so it would be nice if organizations could benefit from it for more than a handful of years. The good news is that with third party EMC maintenance, they can.
A Longer Life with Third Party EMC Maintenance
Whereas EMC has a vested interest in rescinding support on the DMX-4, third party EMC maintenance providers like Park Place Technologies have no reason to be stingy with our service. We entered the market in part because we felt that OEMs like EMC weren’t sufficiently empowering data center managers, CIOs, and other technology leaders to make their own decisions regarding upgrade timelines. By pushing aggressive end-of-life schedules, the OEMs had long held IT managers at ransom, essentially telling you to buy new or go it alone. For years, those responsible for “five nines uptime” (99.999%) caved under the pressure.
Today, it’s different. Premium-quality third party EMC maintenance companies assemble experienced teams of engineers and quality, certified spare parts for new, post-warranty, and end-of-service-life hardware. Providing EMC DMX-4 maintenance is no easy task and not for the faint of heart. Because of this, at Park Place, we employ only Level 3 engineers and have spare parts depots strategically located. As a result, we deliver quick-turnaround troubleshooting and break/fix service, and we never impose an escalation procedure to get the help you need.