Enterprise-Quality Support for Dell EMC VMAX3 All Flash

Park Place Hardware Maintenance


Chris Adams Published: February 21, 2019

In the IT hardware industry, the “enterprise class” designation given to systems like the VMAX3 All Flash indicates more than capacity. Customers look to enterprise storage arrays for flawless performance and maximum uptime—and let’s be honest, typically pay a premium for that level of quality. To derive value commensurate with the investment with a VMAX3 All Flash array, customers should now move to third party maintenance. The VMAX3 All Flash must be bulletproof, so the support solution should be bulletproof, too. Fortunately, Park Place Technologies has expanded its VMAX support to all VMAX3 All Flash arrays effective April 1, 2019, and we’re ready to deliver a superior maintenance package.

Where Support Can Go Wrong

Where does support generally run off the rails? There are a number of common points of failure in the support process, which plague the original equipment manufacturers. These include:

  • Escalation procedures. OEM contracts may stipulate a severity level assessment and accompanying wait time for engineering response, which can extend or even inflict downtime. This puts Dell EMC in the driver’s seat in determining how critical the problem is to your environment.
  • Monitoring & trouble tickets. It can be all too easy for data center staff to miss an initial fault warning among all the dashboards they monitor. Manual trouble tickets also increase the risk of human error. Sometimes a busy administrator notes a problem and fully intends to call support, but then another priority emerges and the matter is forgotten.
  • Engineering failure. Working with individuals who don’t know VMAX systems well will delay problem resolution. Some people think tapping the OEM guarantees the best knowledge base, but it doesn’t. The OEMS are known to ruthlessly push support calls to Level I and Level II response instead of providing easy access to their Level III talent.
  • Spare parts. If the spare parts aren’t nearby to execute break/fix, this will immediately increase time-to-resolution. Quality spare parts management is directly reflected in uptime statistics.

How Park Place Inoculates Against Support Failure

Park Place Technologies is all about the uptime, so we’ve optimized the support process to avoid the problems the OEMs routinely experience. Our maintenance solutions are truly enterprise-class because:

  • We never take time out for a severity level assessment or other bureaucracy. We start assessing the situation and planning a solution right away.
  • There is no escalation procedure, because we offer a Level III-only support solution. Clients always talk to the real experts first.
  • ParkView, our AI-driven automatic fault detection system, monitors the environment 24/7, proactively identifies issues at the earliest stages, files a trouble ticket, and logs all the details engineers will need. This happens in an automated manner, no human intervention required.
  • Our Level 3 engineers average 15+ years of experience, and we assign appropriate personnel to the Park Place-covered hardware—so expect a VMAX expert to maintain your VMAX3.
  • We operate over 160 stocking depots worldwide and will maintain a toolkit for mission critical systems on the client’s site, so the right spares are always readily available.

Customers who have invested in the VMAX3 All Flash deserve support equal to this hardware, but there is no need to spend more to get it. Park Place Technologies offers an enterprise-quality support solution for 50% less than a Dell EMC contract on the VMAX3 All Flash. Want to learn more or get started—we’re here.

About the Author

Chris Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer
As President and CEO, he works side-by-side with other key leaders throughout the company managing day-to-day operations of Park Place. His key objectives include streamlining work processes and ensuring that all business initiatives and objectives are in sync. Chris focuses on key growth strategies and initiatives to improve profitability for Park Place, and is responsible for European and Asia-Pacific sales and service operations.