Who Can Benefit from Third-Party Maintenance (TPM)?

Third-Party Maintenance (TPM) is ideal for anyone responsible for keeping an organization's physical data center infrastructure up and running. This includes the core components of your compute network, like physical servers, storage arrays, and network devices. We emphasize "physical" because TPM applies directly to hardware, not to virtual machines, which rely on that underlying physical equipment. If your organization owns and operates these essential physical devices, TPM could be a valuable service.

The core reason to consider TPM boils down to break/fix responsibility. If you're responsible for repairing your physical devices when they fail, TPM deserves your attention. Many organizations initially rely on a manufacturer's warranty for break/fix coverage. However, a crucial question arises: what happens when that warranty expires? Often, the default assumption is that the device must be replaced with a new one, bringing with it a fresh warranty. While extending a manufacturer's warranty is an option, it can be quite expensive. Furthermore, many manufacturers eventually discontinue offering extended coverage, even for devices still actively used in production environments.

This is precisely where an independent TPM provider steps in. These providers offer maintenance plans that deliver warranty-like coverage far beyond what the manufacturer might offer, typically at a more competitive, market-aware price.

If you're an infrastructure operator tired of hardware sellers pushing unnecessary hardware refreshes that don't align with your business needs or budget, TPM can offer significant advantages by extending the life and support of your existing equipment.