In 2017, Gartner produced a research report on how organizations of all sizes can lower their acquisition
and ownership costs by utilizing third-party maintenance (TPM). TPM is available at a lower cost while
also being a more flexible option to meet your specific business needs.
Maintenance Accounts for Over 15% of the Storage Acquisition Cost
Gartner stated that maintenance accounts for over 15% of the storage acquisition costs. Because
storage is a business-critical system and the data they hold is invaluable to any organization, maintenance is viewed as a requirement.
While maintenance is critical, most organizations are unaware that they have cost-effective options to the expense support that OEMs offer. Third-party maintenance (TPM) offers an alternative. TPM is often available at 40% to 70% below the OEM list price. That difference can help IT teams to stretch their budgets and direct more resources towards adding value to the business.
Storage with OEM Maintenance
Storage Equipment Cost: $250,000
OEM First Year Maintenance: $37,500
Total Purchase Cost: $287,500
Storage with Third-Party Maintenance
Storage Equipment Cost: $250,000
TPM First Year Maintenance: $11,250
Total Purchase Cost: $261,250
Company Savings: $26,250
Reduce Storage Total Cost of Ownership
Companies typically purchase maintenance in 1 to 3-year contracts. Those contracts get renewed through the entire lifecycle of the hardware. If a piece of hardware fails, those companies need to know that replacement equipment is immediately available.
Gartner estimates that the average useful life of storage systems is between 7 to 8 years. By year 7, OEM maintenance costs can exceed the original purchase price of the equipment.
OEM Lifetime Maintenance Cost
OEM Yearly Maintenance: $37,500
Useful Life of Hardware: 7 Years
Total OEM Maintenance Cost: $262,500
TPM Lifetime Maintenance Cost
TPM Yearly Maintenance: $11,250
Useful Life of Hardware: 7 Years
Total OEM Maintenance Cost: $78,750
Company Savings: $183,750
Extend the Useful Life of Equipment
While the useful life of storage hardware can be 8 years, this is almost always longer than the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) will support the systems. The OEMs will put a product at end-of-support (EOS) before organizations are ready to upgrade the hardware.
Traditionally when an OEM places a system on their EOS list, organizations have been forced to upgrade to new equipment. They do this even if they are not ready to upgrade. TPM, on the other hand, will support that equipment well after the manufacturer has ended support. This gives you an alternative to costly upgrades and replacement purchases.
Flexible Support Options
TPM can provide a flexible alternative to expensive OEM maintenance and support. Organizations can choose the type of coverage they want based on their specific business.
24x7x4 Priority Support
8×5 Next Business Day (NBD)
Product only or technician on site
Hot spare part pool
Altnet is dedicated to the technology channel and is the first channel-only third-party maintenance provider. To help our end users and reseller partners, we fully automated the maintenance quoting and ordering process. Simply look up your manufacturer part number on our home page and select the support levels that are right for you. Need additional help? Contact the TPM experts at Altnet today.