4 ms·

> Most people aren't in a position to get a replacement delivered from a vendor that quickly Back when I worked in enterprise services, it was a requirement th

by wtbob 10y ago

> Most people aren't in a position to get a replacement delivered from a vendor that quickly Back when I worked in enterprise services, it was a requirement that we had good support contracts — 1-, 4- or 8-hour turnarounds were standard. If you're running a serious business, support contracts are a must.

boulos 10y ago
Physically delivered, no matter customer location? Sign me up ;).
- nixgeek 10y ago
  I'm not sure why you're so surprised, this is standard logistics management for warranty replacement services. Manufacturer specifically asks customer to keep it informed where the equipment is physically located, and then prepositions spares to appropriate depots in order to meet the contractual requirement established when the customer paid them often a large amount of money for 4-hour Same Day (24x7x365) coverage for that device. This isn't how hyperscale folks operate for the same reason Fortune 100's rarely take out anything more than third-party coverage when their employees rent vehicles, it becomes an actuarial decision, the # of 'Advance Replacement' warranty contracts and the $ involved, vs. buying a % of spares and keeping those in the datacenter then RMA'ing the defective component for refund/replace (on a 3-5 week turnaround time). tl;dr - Operating 100-500 servers you should likely pay Dell and they'll ship you the spare and a technician to install it, operating >500 servers and you should do the sums and make the best decision for your business, operating >5000 servers and you probably want to just 'cold spare' and replace yourself.
- matwood 10y ago
  Back when I worked in a big corp with an actual DC onsite we had similar contracts. I assume they worked anywhere in the US as we had multiple locations. IIRC they were with HP.
- phamilton 10y ago
  We had such a contract with Dell when I worked in HPC (at a large university). Since our churn was so high (top 500 cluster) we had common spare parts on site (RAM, drives) but when we needed a new motherboard it was there within 4 hours. Now, these contracts aren't like your average SaaS offering. We had a sales rep and the terms of the support contract were personalized to our needs. I imagine some locations were offered better terms for 4 hour service than others. As I learned long ago, never say no to a customer request. Just provide a quote high enough to make it worthwhile.
- emmelaich 10y ago
  As nixgeek says, this is standard -- for a price. That said I suspect most enterprises pay too much; as in their money might be better spent buying triple mirroring on a JBOD rather than a platinum service contract with a fancy all in one high end RAID-y machine.

by wtbob 10y ago

boulos 10y ago

Physically delivered, no matter customer location? Sign me up ;).

nixgeek 10y ago
I'm not sure why you're so surprised, this is standard logistics management for warranty replacement services. Manufacturer specifically asks customer to keep it informed where the equipment is physically located, and then prepositions spares to appropriate depots in order to meet the contractual requirement established when the customer paid them often a large amount of money for 4-hour Same Day (24x7x365) coverage for that device. This isn't how hyperscale folks operate for the same reason Fortune 100's rarely take out anything more than third-party coverage when their employees rent vehicles, it becomes an actuarial decision, the # of 'Advance Replacement' warranty contracts and the $ involved, vs. buying a % of spares and keeping those in the datacenter then RMA'ing the defective component for refund/replace (on a 3-5 week turnaround time). tl;dr - Operating 100-500 servers you should likely pay Dell and they'll ship you the spare and a technician to install it, operating >500 servers and you should do the sums and make the best decision for your business, operating >5000 servers and you probably want to just 'cold spare' and replace yourself.
matwood 10y ago
Back when I worked in a big corp with an actual DC onsite we had similar contracts. I assume they worked anywhere in the US as we had multiple locations. IIRC they were with HP.
phamilton 10y ago
We had such a contract with Dell when I worked in HPC (at a large university). Since our churn was so high (top 500 cluster) we had common spare parts on site (RAM, drives) but when we needed a new motherboard it was there within 4 hours. Now, these contracts aren't like your average SaaS offering. We had a sales rep and the terms of the support contract were personalized to our needs. I imagine some locations were offered better terms for 4 hour service than others. As I learned long ago, never say no to a customer request. Just provide a quote high enough to make it worthwhile.
emmelaich 10y ago
As nixgeek says, this is standard -- for a price. That said I suspect most enterprises pay too much; as in their money might be better spent buying triple mirroring on a JBOD rather than a platinum service contract with a fancy all in one high end RAID-y machine.