HP Support Contract on RP5430...Any other Support Vendor?

[crazyhpux_1]

Hello everyone. I need to renew my support contract with HP. I am rethinking the support as its almost 7k for it. We rarely use it and I know its a safty net in case something happens but paying 7k a year for something that is probably worth that much is troubling me a bit. What do you guys think? are there any other vendor out there beside HP that support the server?

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

First things first -- What level of support do you currently have with HP? If it is 24x7 4 hour response, consider dropping it down. Other options may be 8a-8p weekdays with 4 hour response, or 8a-8p weekdays with next day response.

There are other vendors out there, but it depends on your location as to whether anyone will cover you or not.

Two people I have talked to, but never done anything with (I still have HP maintaining my systems):

Abtech Systems
http://www.abtechsystems.com/

SourceDirect.com
http://www.sourcedirect.com/

I also just searched google with keywords "HP9000 maintenance third party" and got these results:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HP9000+maintenance+third+party&btnG=Search

Good luck!

[goldboy]

where are you located in the US ? and can you provide more details on your hardware ?

[A. Clay Stephenson]

I generally find that the hardware support is all but trivial --- for an rp54xx maybe a disk or so per year --- and I keep on-hand spares for those. I rarely even let the HP Mr. Goodwrenches touch my boxes. The vast majority of my HP support calls are simply to replace my spares but I still pay for HP support. Why? It's the software/OS support. Your $7K/yr may well be protecting many times that in the cost of replacement/upgrade software when you upgrade to newer equipment --- and it's this that you can't get from 3rd-party support.

[crazyhpux_1]

I am located in Fresno, CA. That's central california. I contacted a company that is about 2-3 hours away but have a office here in Fresno.

I agree with the hardware as that hasn't failed on me yet, knock on wood. Might be a good idea to grab an extra drive just in case. The software/OS support I do find benefits from. Over the last 5 years, I have only called them once or twice. I appreciate your response and will keep looking for 3rd party support.

I am a HP-UX CSA so I can resolve things myself a majority of the time. Or I can ask you guys for support :-)

[Torsten.]

Consider this:

a serious HW failure may cause a swap of expensive hw (e.g. multiple boards like system board and pci backplane) and could cost more than a contract.

Just a thought ...

[DCE]

Yes, the support contract is a safety net (but so are tape backups) Yes HP does charge a premium price. But as others have stated, there are ways to mitigate those costs.

Reducing your support time does lessen the cost, but the flip side is any work done on the system by is HP is then done during business hours (unless your want to pay a really expensive surcharge)

Uses a third party for support can lessen the costs (The company I am working for does that now) The flip side to this is, if you do have an issue you wind up going through double help/support desks. The vendor has their own desk, and if they cannot resolve the issue, you wind up at HP anyway.

The cost you really need to look at is what does it cost your company per hour/per day to have this server down? If it costs $20,000 a day for example, then your 7K a year support contract is probably worth it.