Park Place Technologies Holds “Halloween Funeral” for Three Retiring Data Center Devices

CLEVELAND, Oct. 28, 2026 – Park Place Technologies, a leading global IT infrastructure services firm, today launched “Rack in Peace,” a three-part Halloween video series that stages a mock funeral for three widely deployed pieces of IT infrastructure reaching end of service life (EOSL) on Oct. 31, 2026: the Cisco Meraki MX84 security appliance, the Veritas NetBackup 5340 appliance, and the Cisco Catalyst 3650 switch.

Each video follows a grieving procession of mourners delivering tearful eulogies for a device whose OEM support is ending. Each time the grief peaks, a Park Place field engineer steps in with a calm, practical reminder: the hardware is still running, and Park Place still supports it.

The videos debut one per day on Park Place’s social media channels from Oct. 28 through Oct. 30, ending the day before all three devices pass their OEM end-of-support date.

THE SCHEDULE

Oct. 28 – Cisco Meraki MX84. The branch security appliance, sold by Cisco until 2021, reaches its end-of-support date on Oct. 31, 2026.

Oct. 29 – Veritas NetBackup 5340. The backup appliance, which Veritas stopped selling in September 2021, leaves vendor support on Oct. 31, 2026.

Oct. 30 – Cisco Catalyst 3650. The access switch found in wiring closets across many enterprise campuses reaches its last date of Cisco support on Oct. 31, 2026.

WHY IT MATTERS

When OEM support ends, many organizations feel pressure to replace hardware that still meets their needs, often on the OEM’s timeline rather than their own. Third-party maintenance gives IT teams a way to keep stable, proven equipment in service while they plan upgrades around budget and business priorities.

“Every October, we watch good hardware get treated like it’s already gone,” said David Cramer, President of Operations, Park Place Technologies. “The MX84, the 5340, and the 3650 are still doing their jobs in thousands of environments. The OEM calendar changes on Oct. 31, but the hardware doesn’t. We wanted to have some fun with that, and make sure IT leaders know they have options.”

Organizations running any of the three devices can find EOSL details and coverage information in Park Place’s EOSL library at parkplacetechnologies.com/eosl, or contact Park Place to discuss support for hardware past its OEM end-of-support date.

The “Rack in Peace” video series is available on Park Place Technologies’ LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and X channels using #RackInPeace.

Sobre Park Place Technologies

Park Place Technologies é uma empresa líder global em serviços de infraestrutura de TI, com receita anual de US$ 1,2 bilhão e mais de 3.000 funcionários. Ajudamos mais de 25.000 organizações em 180 países — incluindo metade das empresas da Fortune 500 — a impulsionar a inovação e acelerar a transformação por IA, reduzindo drasticamente o tempo e os custos dedicados ao gerenciamento da infraestrutura de TI, ao mesmo tempo em que aumentamos o desempenho e o tempo de atividade.

Com o apoio da maior equipe de engenharia presencial do mundo, um grupo sólido de engenheiros especializados e nossos Centros de Operações Empresariais globais, Park Place economias significativas em manutenção de hardware, suporte técnico de software, aquisição de hardware e muito mais. Também simplificamos o gerenciamento da infraestrutura de TI, liberando as equipes internas das tarefas cotidianas e permitindo que se concentrem em iniciativas estratégicas — incluindo a aceleração da IA.

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Contatos de mídia

Park Place Technologies
Michael Miller, Sr. Director of Global Communications mmiller@parkplacetech.com

Samantha Bell, Sr. Corporate Communications Specialist samantha.bell@parkplacetech.com

Feintuch Communications
Henry Feintuch / Liz Savery parkplacetech@feintuchpr.com