Avoid Data Center Costs with Third Party Maintenance Services – Here’s 3 Ways

by Charles Swanson⁽³⁾
Digital C4

If you work in a data center, manage or own one, then you know that for every piece of hardware there are OEM maintenance contracts that go with them. Like the hardware themselves, these contracts are not inexpensive, however they can be less costly than any sustained downtime and the loss of business or revenue that goes along with it.

It is with this in mind, that many data centers look to third party hardware maintenance services (TPM). For most data centers, third party maintenance can enable four types of business value, including cost reduction, cost avoidance, business agility and risk reduction. In an earlier article I authored I discussed 3 ways that third party maintenance services can lower costs. Here I give you 3 ways that third party maintenance services can help you avoid costs all together.

No fixed costs to purchase and store replacement hardware and spare parts. If you plan on repairing hardware at your data center, you’d better have access to replacement units and spare parts. Unfortunately this can be an expensive undertaking given the cost of the hardware itself as well as the need for space to store this equipment. A third party maintenance provider that stocks and installs data center for customers will essentially eliminate this need entirely.

The ability to delay capital expenses. More and more today, data centers are maintaining their hardware beyond the standard OEM refresh cycles. Doing this can delay the associated capital expense of acquiring new and expensive hardware. In fact, the more expensive or mission-critical the hardware is, the tendency is to maintain versus replace. UNIX servers may be kept for up to or even beyond 6 years; tape storage systems perhaps 5 years; and perhaps a Windows-based server will be kept for around 3 years.

Costs associated with downtime. Data center downtime can be a very bad thing. If you’re a third party data center you lose money and at worst valuable clients. If your data center is company-centric then you lose money associated with unavailable applications or equipment for service or product oriented client offerings. A recent IDC report suggested that the average cost of downtime can average $70,000 per hour! A third party maintenance provider that responds quickly, with qualified engineers, and has the parts and replacement units readycan help keep any downtime costs to an absolute minimum.

These avoided costs, together with the money available in savings, makes third party maintenanceproviders a true data center asset. Choose wisely, but do choose.

Article submitted Tuesday, January 11, 2011 & read 160 times.

Charles Swanson is an agency owner, passionate about search marketing, social media, health tourism, technology, and healthcare. He resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two girls. You can visit his agency at www.digitalc4.com.

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