IBM SupportLine

[D.BALE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I'd be curious to know the mix of the MIDRANGE-L population that has an IBM
SupportLine contract.  In the past, this was always a given in any shop I've
worked in but, for reasons unknown to me, we supposedly have only one
SupportLine contract for one of our boxes.  Given the fact that we're mostly
on V3R7 around here, we may not even have a SupportLine contract anymore.

In the past, I considered SupportLine as an absolute necessity before
embarking on any OS upgrade.  I may have treated cume PTFs in the same manner,
although my memory is fuzzy on that.  I also seem to recall that, at one time,
if you had SupportLine you also had IBM hardware service, and vice versa, but
I know that's not the case now.

I see that IBM is offering a rebate for new SupportLine accounts and thought
I'd better poll the collective mindset here before I go asking management to
cough up the bucks for SupportLine, especially before we get going on our
upgrades.

Are there any viable alternatives to SupportLine?

- Dan
Dan Bale says "BAN DALE!"
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
D.Bale@Handleman.com
  Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
  (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
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