The Sun model of beefy server, ultra-thin client worked incredibly well and presaged the widespread adoption of virtualisation that eventually led to cloud computing and containerised software. Unfortunately that model made it very easy to undercut their prices using commodity hardware; I managed a Solaris/Sun Ray network c.2004 and it was cheaper to switch to Linux/Intel and buy spare hardware to keep in a cupboard “just in case” than to keep the Sun network going through its support contract.
if a support contract is 70% of the cost of something, then for every 2 of something a spare is cheaper.
For Aruba I think it was 1:1; a support contract was the same price as the device itself over 2 years or something.
Support contracts never cover a "site" they always cover individual devices, so your cost scales with the amount you have... so I'm not sure I follow what you're saying..
Unless you mean to imply that you're replacing units more than once every 2 years, in which case of course you're right... but then I might consider going with another vendor entirely because that is a pretty terrible reliability record.
Support contracts never cover a "site" they always cover individual devices
Wrong. I've signed many support contracts that were negotiated basically to "one flat fee for everything we sell that you use, including future purchases[1]" for some period of time. Some people think that they 'optimize' contracts by pushing for "I just want a service contract only on the SKUs I have". That's not always a real optimization.
[1] Often, this includes a tacit "including things you are using that you didn't tell us about".
Interesting, I've literally never seen that (though obviously not doubting your experience) and I have (at one point) been in charge of 1% of web traffic..
I'm wondering if this is something uniquely american, because we don't seem to have much negotiating power in the UK/SE.
Sorta. Writing a 7- or 8-figure check certain gives one the leverage to negotiate. That said, if you're talking about US$250k DC switches, the vendor cares about each and every one. But if you're talking about 250 US$1k switches, you can talk about "let's make this easy on both of us...". Software licensing contracts are even more malleable. Having a really ballbusting purchasing and contracts team is fun.
grahamlee · · focus · HN ↗
dijit · · focus · HN ↗
I have a bunch of Aruba switches and this is what we do, because it's a lot cheaper.
bluGill · · focus · HN ↗
dijit · · focus · HN ↗
For Aruba I think it was 1:1; a support contract was the same price as the device itself over 2 years or something.
Support contracts never cover a "site" they always cover individual devices, so your cost scales with the amount you have... so I'm not sure I follow what you're saying..
Unless you mean to imply that you're replacing units more than once every 2 years, in which case of course you're right... but then I might consider going with another vendor entirely because that is a pretty terrible reliability record.
kjs3 · · focus · HN ↗
Wrong. I've signed many support contracts that were negotiated basically to "one flat fee for everything we sell that you use, including future purchases[1]" for some period of time. Some people think that they 'optimize' contracts by pushing for "I just want a service contract only on the SKUs I have". That's not always a real optimization.
[1] Often, this includes a tacit "including things you are using that you didn't tell us about".
dijit · · focus · HN ↗
I'm wondering if this is something uniquely american, because we don't seem to have much negotiating power in the UK/SE.
bluGill · · focus · HN ↗
kjs3 · · focus · HN ↗