glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu (Glenn F. Leavell) (03/05/91)
We have a Sun network which contains various third party peripherals. I'm interested in obtaining recommendations and information regarding multi-vendor hardware support for our entire network. If anyone is dealing with or has dealt with any multi-vendor support services, I would appreciate your e-mailing me any information that you can give. I'm currently talking with a company based in Florida called ASJ, and would especially appreciate any information you have about them. If there is any interest I'll summarize. Thanks in advance, Glenn -- Glenn F. Leavell Systems Administrator glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu 404-542-3488 University of Georgia Economics Department. 147 Brooks Hall. Athens, GA 30602
glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu (Glenn F. Leavell) (03/12/91)
I recently wrote: >We have a Sun network which contains various third party peripherals. I'm >interested in obtaining recommendations and information regarding >multi-vendor hardware support for our entire network. If anyone is dealing >with or has dealt with any multi-vendor support services, I would appreciate >your e-mailing me any information that you can give. I'm currently talking >with a company based in Florida called ASJ, and would especially appreciate >any information you have about them. If there is any interest, I'll summarize. Thanks for the responses. Well, there has been some interest, so here's a summary of what I've received. First, thanks to all who responded. I didn't receive any respose about ASJ Support Services, but I did find out some information myself. I spoke with Shirley Lewis (407 242 2002) who was very helpful and was able to make me a very competitive offer that would cover all of our Sun machines and related peripherals. She also sent me a nice list of references. I talked to 5 out of 7 of the contacts listed, and all of the responses were positive. Morry Katz (katz@rpal.rockwell.com) sent some information about Sun: >Sun actually has a corporate agreement with either 1 or 2 third party >support groups to supply joint support for Sun's and other equipment. >They write contracts in one fo two flavors. Either Sun is the primary >support Co. and the other party supplies parts and expertise to Sun to >handle the 3rd party stuff; or, the other Co. is the primary and Sun >supplies expertise and parts for the Suns. I have not actually used >this service, but we are currently looking into it. I haven't looked into this yet. Peter Hill (pfh@craycos.com) told me about Motorola and sent some more information about Sun: >A year ago we evaluated Motorola vs. Sun for hardware support of our >Sun network (we support the Crays ourselves). Since we have lots of >third-party disks, tapes, etc. we thought Moto would cover more than >Sun would. > >We are not a large site (two Sun-4 servers, 30 Sun-3 desktops, and >miscellaneous standalone systems); so we couldn't count on the clout we >had at Cray Research, with over 500 desktop systems and dozens of >servers. > >Moto bought out a service company, whose name I forget, and are now >trying to build their share of the nationwide third-party >hardware/software maintenance business. They have software support, >too. I talked to several of their customers in the area (front range >Colorado) and all were very happy with Moto service. > >Motorola's Denver service division is at 303 770 5900. They should >know if Moto is in your area. > >Turns out Sun has a long list of "approved" third-party hardware they >are willing to support, i.e. Exabyte tape drives, Imprimis (Seagate) >disks, etc. > >With a two-year contract, payable annually, Sun hardware support prices >are competitive (well, I was surprised). It may depend on the local >or regional Sun office, but I guess the moral is, don't believe Sun's >list prices. > >We wound up with Sun service. The only problems to date have been >Sun's hopelessly confused contracts department, and some question of >how they support (say) the power supply in a third-party Exabyte >shoebox. Neither has been resolved, but they are working on them. I called Motorola's Atlanta office and spoke with Joe Stout (404 953 0070). He quoted me some very competitive next day on-site service prices for every machine and peripheral that we own. Paul the System Administrator (root@rainbow.cse.nau.edu) told me about DEC: >Talk to DEC about maintenance for your specific equipment. >While their prices aren't very good usually, they do support >a whole lot of third-party peripherals, and they are usually >nearby nomatter where you are located. My site does not >have any third party peripherals maintained by DEC, but I >know that just about everything we have CAN BE maintained >by them.... I called Atlanta's DEC office (404 772 1000) and was told by Michelle Johnson that they did cover almost all Sun equipment, but they didn't cover some of the extras I was looking for like a Xylogics Disk Controller and some external NEC 800MB 9 inch drives that we are using with our Sun 4/280. Bob Grinstead (404 451 7927) from Novadyne's Atlanta office called me after he got word about my original posting on this subject. He said that they were the original McDonald Douglas support group. He also offered me a competitive quote that covered all of our equipment. I suggest that anyone interested in obtaining a new maintenance agreement contact all of the above companies to see which one can best handle your situation. Thanks again for all the responses. -- Glenn F. Leavell Systems Administrator glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu 404-542-3488 University of Georgia Economics Department. 147 Brooks Hall. Athens, GA 30602