Edit: I still recommend customers get enhanced support.
Originally posted October 1, 2019 on AIXchange
IBM’s Proactive Support is now included by default for all mid-range and enterprise POWER9 Systems.
For those who create hardware orders, IBM’s configuration tool now includes Proactive Support by default for all E980 and E950 configurations.
Under Proactive Support, customers are assigned an IBM account manager. Through frequent contact, including regularly scheduled calls, a strong working relationship develops. For IBM, the collaboration provides knowledge of the individual environment, making it possible to respond more quickly when a ticket is opened or when new vulnerabilities arise that require action.
Having worked with teams that have benefited from this type of enhanced relationship with IBM Support, I recommend you look into this offering.
This is from the Aug. 9 announcement letter:
“Clients have found significant value in IBM’s Proactive Support offerings on mission-critical systems, as this provides personalized support, proactive recommendations, and accelerated response times versus standard support. As a result, IBM is including the IBM Proactive Support in the default configuration for all Mid-Range and Enterprise IBM POWER9 Systems – for IBM AIX, IBM i, Linux, and SAP HANA workloads. Other configurations are also available.”
I saw a slide deck that highlights these points:
“IBM Proactive Support can streamline management, reduce costs and increase availability. This solution is designed to:
- Provide a single source of customized support for hardware and software from multiple vendors, helping you improve the return on your IT investment.
- Balance high availability with improved affordability to help maintain converged, virtualized and cloud-based IT environments.
- Increase your IT staff’s productivity and free it to focus on more strategic initiatives.
- Supply an optimized support model with global delivery through worldwide IBM technical centers.
- Shorten the response time to failures and avoid a major impact on revenue, cost, customer satisfaction, reputation and more.”