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.

Acerca de Park Place Technologies

Park Place Technologies es una empresa líder mundial en servicios de infraestructura de TI con unos ingresos anuales de 1.200 millones de dólares y más de 3.000 empleados. Ayudamos a más de 25.000 organizaciones en 180 países —entre las que se incluye la mitad de las empresas de la lista Fortune 500— a impulsar la innovación y acelerar la transformación hacia la inteligencia artificial, reduciendo drásticamente el tiempo y el dinero dedicados a la gestión de la infraestructura de TI, al tiempo que mejoramos el rendimiento y el tiempo de actividad.

Gracias al respaldo del equipo de ingeniería sobre el terreno más grande del mundo, a un sólido grupo de ingenieros especializados y a nuestros Centros de Operaciones Empresariales globales, Park Place un ahorro significativo en costes de mantenimiento de hardware, asistencia técnica de software, adquisición de hardware y mucho más. Además, optimizamos la gestión de la infraestructura de TI, liberando a los equipos internos de las tareas cotidianas y permitiéndoles centrarse en iniciativas estratégicas, incluida la aceleración de la inteligencia artificial.

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Contactos con los medios de comunicación

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