Re: Alternative to IBMi hardware maintenance

Here in Germany the situation is rather similar.

3rd party maintenance companies charge about 50-65% of IBM fee. IBM does cancel contracts
if the hardware is older than 15 years (and sends these customers to us even though we usually
do not do maintenance contracts). IBM stopped convincing the customers to buy new hardware,
that’s our job *sigh*
Especially small customers (who are known to IBM as they have at least had a SWMA contract)
are not even contacted by any IBMer or the big business partners for services or new hardware,
as some of them expected the customer already switched systems (i heard about this opinion
several times this year).

…no comment…

-h

Am 03.10.2018 um 16:21 schrieb Rob Berendt <rob@xxxxxxxxx>:

Some people say that IBM drastically ups their maintenance charges to make
upgrades to new hardware look attractive.
An argument against that may be that the upcharge may be due to shortages
of replacement parts. People really do not want used SSD's for
replacement parts and manufacturers quickly drop making old models when
new ones come out.

But, anyway, I always find the third parties seem to charge x% of IBM's
maintenance. If IBM raises their rates to double then the third parties
raise theirs and still take x% of the new rate. They don't try to explain
either as they just want you to focus on that they are cheaper than IBM.
So, the third parties may look attractive now, but when IBM stops
supporting the hardware what will they jump their rates to? Will they
feel they've got you by the throat? Will they be all confused as x% of
nothing doesn't pay the bills?