Has Your 3 Years of IBM XIV (2810-2812) Support Run Out? Here’s What’s Next!

In 2012, IBM clarified its IBM XIV (2810-2812) support options. The company offered three years of hardware support and the choice of three, four, or five years of software support on new purchases of IBM XIV Storage Systems. Most IT shops were buying what IBM called “XIV Gen 3 with InfiniBand connectivity between modules, 2.4 Ghz quad core Nehalem CPUs, 2 TB native SAS disk, and 8 Gbps Fibre Channel support.” Soon after, many users added the new SSD as an option.

A few years later as the original support agreement expires, IT professionals may be wondering if purchasing additional service from IBM is the right thing to do. We’d like to present another option: third party maintenance.

The What.

Tony Pearson, senior management consultant for IBM system storage, emphasized that “the IBM XIV is a Tier-1, high-end, enterprise-class disk storage system…and is the ideal cost-effective replacement for EMC Symmetrix VMAX, HDS USP-V and VSP, and HP P9000 series disk systems.” Park Place  Technologies happens to be the ideal cost-effective replacement for IBM XIV support!

We are a 100% support-focused company with a decade of experience, global reach, and a client list of Fortune 500 companies and other industry leaders that trust us to keep their IBM and other systems operating at peak performance. We’re also among the few alternative providers that support the IBM XIV for machine types 2812 and 2810.

The Why.

Going back to the well with IBM XIV support is always an option, so data center managers want to know the advantages of taking a different route with third party maintenance. There are many, but we’ll highlight three:

• Significant savings on comprehensive contracts. IT budgets are tight, so it’s great to save 40% to 70% off IBM XIV support without compromising on quality. Park Place contracts include the engineering expertise, telephone and online support, certified spare parts with on-site installation, remote monitoring, guaranteed SLAs, and other features you’d expect from IBM.
• Greater personalization. Sometimes dealing with Big Blue is like walking into a brick wall. Park Place is a more nimble competitor, capable of delivering individualized service to each client. We do this in many ways: staffing our support lines with only Level 3 engineers so there’s no escalation procedure; assigning a local, Level 3 engineer to the account for continuity in on-site service; and engaging personally with the client in an up-front systems analysis and trouble call reviews conducted quarterly thereafter.
• A lifetime commitment to hardware. IBM is not the worst offender among OEMs that use end of support life to compel hardware upgrades, but why not work with a company that will support any piece of equipment your operations still rely on? Given the explosion in data volumes, most IT organizations don’t have the luxury of tossing out perfectly good storage arrays. Park Place will help protect the XIV online for years to come, and with the extra engineering time we include in every contract, we can even help you repurpose or reconfigure it to keep up with its changing role in the data center.

The How.

Now we’ve reached the easy part. Getting on board with Park Place is almost effortless. Contact us for a quote or with questions. We’ll help you design a customized support solution for your IBM XIV and any other equipment you’d like to cover. And then we’ll get started with that systems analysis we mentioned above. That’s it.