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Debbie, If you are asking about IBM Maintenance Contract vs Some-Other-Company Maintenance Contract: You have to determine if the Some-Other-Company can give you the service level you need. Do they have the knowledge, ability, and resources to support your operation? The question is *not* "Are they as good as IBM", but rather "Can they provide the service my company needs". Evaluate this from both a short term and long term perspective. (I know, not a simple task.) If you are asking about IBM Maintenance Contract vs IBM Per Call Service: From my perspective this is strictly a matter of the level of risk your company wants to assume. The maintenance contract is like an insurance policy. When you are on a service contract you know exactly what you are going to pay every month/year. If you are working on a per call basis, it's kind of a crap shoot. You may spend nothing this month, or you may spend $50,000 if you have a serious problem. When I get into this discussion with the $$$ department here, I tell them that we will call IBM for service exactly the same whether we are under a maintenance contract or not. After they consider this, they always agree it is better to stay with the contract. Oh yeah, there is one more thing: I *believe* that IBM takes care of their contract customers first, so without it you become a second class citizen but I can't back that up with any evidence. By the way, who is on the other side of the negotiating table? Phil From: Debbie Helms <DHelms@Lance.com> To: "'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'" <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com> Subject: as400 maintenance contract Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 06:52:40 -0500 Reply-To: midrange-l@midrange.com Could anyone give me opinions / reasons for and against IBM hardware support? We have IBM support which I personally think is excellent but they are on the expensive side. I already know "you get what you pay for". I need something tangible and convincing when we go to the negotiating table. As always I appreciate the feedback. Debra Helms Senior Technical Analyst Lance, Inc.
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