A History of the Third Party Maintenance Market
How TPM grew to become a genuine alternative.
IT directors know just how costly it is to purchase data centre assets. As such, they expect those assets to last long enough to see a substantial Return on Investment (ROI). If hardware fails prematurely, you also expect the manufacturer to step in and provide support. For a long time, this was the only option, and it was a terrible situation. Today, Third Party Maintenance (TPM) is a viable alternative, but not that many years ago, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) were the only ones in the game! Thankfully, their stranglehold on the maintenance and support segment slipped. Why was TPM even needed, though? What was so bad about only having access to support from the manufacturers? In this post, we’ll discuss the history of OEM support and the inevitable birth of Third Party Maintenance.
The birth of TPM
Electronic Computers date back to the second world war with the debut of the UK’s code-breaking ‘Colossus’ and the US’s ENIAC, but it was not until the 1960s that computing really came into its own for most organizations. A decade on, third party maintenance got started, and it took until the 1980s for it to become a viable solution. Why was it even needed, though? Let’s look back through history at some of the pain points that come from only being able to rely on OEMs for hardware maintenance and support.
Withdrawing support on products just a few years old.
Did you know that the average official lifespan for IT hardware is around three years? Given the immense cost of these assets, that seems more than a little illogical. Of course, OEMs provide support for their systems for a few years after they stop production. But even then, you’re still looking at an incredibly short lifespan (5-7 years on average).
Here’s the thing. Without access to a third party maintenance provider, the only way to keep your equipment running after the official End Of Support Life (EOSL) date was to handle it yourself. Obviously, that’s challenging for all but the largest organizations, and even for them, it’s costly and time-consuming. And so, the opportunity to look for outside partners to manage all or part of companies’ infrastructure soon arose.
Sunsetting product lines after acquisitions
Throughout history, the IT industry is marked by growth and cannibalisation. You only need to look at the fact that major players that once dominated the market are no longer around. These weren’t fly-by-night companies, either. We’re talking about organizations like Sorbus, Bell Atlantic, Interlogic Trace, and Management Assistance, Inc., all of which had very strong presences in the 1980s.
While it’s certainly a sign of growth, all those mergers and acquisitions pose serious problems for hardware owners. When a company acquires another, it’s not unusual to sunset product lines. That means you could have purchased an asset brand new, and just months later, you’re faced with the end of production, and then support.
Monumental Maintenance Support Contracts
There’s also the fact that OEM maintenance support contracts are colossally expensive. That’s because manufacturers have no real interest in providing ongoing maintenance for years to come. They’ve created an artificially accelerated refresh cycle that hinges on organizations regularly swapping their old assets for the latest (and ‘greatest’) hardware.
The problem here is that this is a waste of both money and resources. There’s nothing wrong with the current hardware that is being swapped out; it’s still operable, and, in many cases, it’s not even outdated. Much of what passes for “next generation” hardware is only iteratively better or slightly repackaged.
However, the allure of “the next big thing” combined with the exorbitant cost of extended maintenance contracts is often enough to convince organizations that upgrading is in their best interests (and it’s certainly in the OEM’s best interests).
Support Confusion
When a problem occurs in your data centre, chances are good that determining the root cause is more than a little difficult. You’re left jumping through multiple hoops to determine which vendor or equipment supplier is responsible for fixing the problem. You might deal with slowdowns from conflicting Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and even expensive downtime.
If more than one piece of equipment is involved and they are from different manufacturers then you can find the engineers putting more effort into finding fault with the other manufacturer’s kit rather than fixing their own, or working together to resolve the issue – the so-called ‘OEM Blame Game’.
The upshot of all this is that your organization pays the price. You’re the one dealing with slow responses, trying to find answers to your questions. Not to mention, bleeding money while your systems are down.
Third Party Maintenance is the solution
By the 1980s, third party maintenance was a viable alternative for organizations that wanted to opt out of the convoluted, costly process of dealing with OEMs. TPM options have now been available for over 40 years yet many organizations and decision-makers still seem to be unaware that they have a choice. In fact, the market penetration for TPMs is quite low (somewhere around 8%) despite its obvious benefits.
A lot of that is due to misinformation and fear spread by the OEMs themselves. They like to make it appear as though working with a TPM will put your entire IT infrastructure in danger. The truth is that TPM companies like Support 247 deliver critical solutions, massive financial savings, and help you keep your equipment operating long after you would have otherwise traded it in.
Third Party Maintenance isn’t history: a choice for modern organizations
Third party maintenance through Support 247 offers a wide range of benefits. You’re able to break out of that artificial refresh cycle that OEMs use to keep you spending money and never realising full ROI on your hardware.
We can also simplify your support needs through co-terming; this allows you to put all your hardware on the same service contract regardless of brand or model. When there’s a problem, you simply reach out to us – it really is that simple.
Contact Support 247 here today to learn more about how we can help.