– Mike Leib, product management director for DecisionOne (www.decisionone.com), says:

Failure to perform preventative maintenance.
Preventative maintenance (PM) keeps the data center running smoother and longer. Data Center managers do not want to interrupt availability to users or shut down a portion of the system, but most PM can be performed with the system running. Many companies put off PM until there is a failure – but an ounce of prevention leads to a pound of money saved in the long run.

Procrastination of service calls lead to failure of redundancy.
High-end data center equipment is redundant in nature; therefore, it doesn’t have to be repaired immediately. Once a portion of it fails, it is no longer redundant. Oftentimes, we see a situation where a call was not scheduled on the initial failure and the entire systems goes down once the redundant system also fails. Don’t wait too long to place a service call.

Lack of predictive maintenance and use of call-home features.
DecisionOne has a proprietary call-home system that enables us to identify a failure and pre-configure a part for replacement. It also tells us when certain devices are on the verge of failure. For example, an OEM has pre-defined end of life cycles. When unit faults or errors reach a certain level, we are notified by the call-home feature and can replace a unit on the verge of failure with minimal to zero downtime. The bottom line – call-home systems allow you to find and resolve problems faster extending the life of your technology investments.

DecisionOne provides Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), outsourcers, and resellers and their clients throughout North America with local, reliable, cost-effective technology support and professional services.

We are a single source, multi-vendor provider with integrated onsite, field, and logistics services capabilities. Our footprint of service locations and centralized support capabilities throughout the U.S. and Canada enable us to provide local, reliable, cost-effective solutions that address needs at every point along the technology support lifecycle — from initial planning to installation and maintenance to asset disposal and/or reclamation.

DecisionOne’s Data Center/High Availability Services include:

• Full Maintenance
• Labor-Only Maintenance
• IBM Back-line support
• IBM Self-Maintainer Support
• Deployment/IMAC

Data Center/High Availability Technologies Supported

• IBM Mainframes
• Midrange Systems
• High-End to Entry-Level Servers From All Tier 1 Manufacturers
• Tape Storage Facilities
• NAS/SAN/DASD Storage
• High Availability/High Volume Printers
• Peripheral Devices (Controllers, Monitors, Modems, etc.)