Get the best deal on your IT maintenance at renewal time

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin

We save our customers an average of more than 30% over manufacturers’ prices

With IT budgets tighter than ever before and expenditure coming under increasing scrutiny it might be time for your company to do something different this year. If you’re looking for saving and efficiencies in 2012, your IT maintenance contract is somewhere you could make instant, significant savings.

Manufacturer maintenance is often seen as the gold-standard for IT support so it’s not surprising that many companies choose to stick with their manufacturer when it comes to providing the day-to-day support that keeps their systems running. What many people don’t realize is that third party maintenance providers can offer a better, faster, more personalized and flexible service at a fraction of the cost.

3 reasons to choose choose Com-Com instead of your manufacturer for IT maintenance in 2012

30% cost reduction. We aim to beat your manufacturer’s price by at least 30%. We have much lower overheads than the likes of Oracle and IBM so we’re able to offer significant instant savings. That’s money that can go on other projects, equipment or human resources.
More flexible, friendlier service. We try to offer customers the package that suits them. You can add or remove items from your support contract whenever it suits you and choose the right response level for your precise needs. We’ll tailor a package that suits you and then provide you with a dedicated engineer.
The expertise to support multiple vendors. Most companies have a variety of equipment on site. This usually means any number of different support contracts with any number of vendors. Working with Com-Com means a single contract, a single point of contact and huge savings across your IT infrastructure. Our team of manufacturer-trained engineers have the expertise and experience to support equipment from EMC, Sun/Oracle, IBM, Cisco, HP, Bull, NetApp, Dell and many others so that you can benefit from cost savings across the board.

More and more people are turning to third party maintainers like Com-Com at renewal time and benefiting from a better service and a much better price.

Why not send us an email or call us on 0845 643 1180 to find out how we can help you.

The three most common issues in Storage Area Networks

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin

Simple configuration issues that impact your SAN performance

As an experienced maintainer of EMC and other SAN hardware, we see a lot of Storage Area Networks. While SANs may have been optimally configured at installation, their configuration and use may have evolved over time and problems can creep in. Our engineers have noticed significant numbers of SANs which are no longer configured in line with best practice. Many customers don’t realise that their SAN is not working at its optimum and may be unaware that they are running unnecessary risks with their data.

Here are the top 3 SAN issues we encounter.

LUNs bound to system drives. Drives 0-4 are reserved as system drives to run the array’s O/S. In 90% of the systems we check, we see these drives being used for mission critical storage. It’s a simple, basic error that impacts system performance yet only one in ten of the SANs we check is configured correctly.
Use of SATA drives for virtualization. Both EMC and VMWare advise against this practice, warning of the performance and throughput impact it has. Yet we see this being done in more than 70% of the SANs we check.
Poor metaLUN implementation. Configuring metaLUNs incorrectly can pose serious risks for data corruption through hardware failure. We see this in more than 60% of the SANs we check.

These are simple issues to correct but they often go unnoticed for years, until a problem arises and the data is corrupted or until we send an engineer to perform a SAN Health Check.

Make sure your SAN is in optimum health

Com-Com are offering a free EMC SAN Health Check to the first ten respondents to this email.

Within ten days of the site visit we will provide you with a full report of our findings, together with recommendations on ensuring your equipment is working to its optimum performance level.

Call us on 0845 643 1180 or click below to claim your free SAN Health Check.

Show your Data some Love with a Free SAN Health Check

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

At Com-Com, we know how important your data can be and how, like a long-standing love, it can be taken for granted and neglected. That’s why we offer our customers a Com-Com EMC SAN Health Check, a comprehensive storage audit that helps to ensure that your SAN, and the hosts it is attached to, are properly configured and fit for purpose.

Don’t neglect your Storage Area Network

In questions of SAN, as in questions of the heart, many people don’t realise they have a problem until it’s too late. They suddenly find themselves faced with a mission-critical failure when a little bit of care and attention could have saved a lot of heartache. There are simple, common mistakes that we see time and time again:

LUNs bound to system drives. Drives 0-4 are reserved as system drives to run the array’s O/S. In 90% of the systems we check, we see these drives being used for mission critical storage. It’s a simple, basic error that impacts system performance yet only one in ten of the SANs we check is configured correctly.
Use of SATA drives for virtualization. Both EMC and VMWare advise against this practice, warning of the performance and throughput impact it has. Yet we see this being done in more than 70% of the SANs we check.
Poor metaLUN implementation. Configuring metaLUNs incorrectly can pose serious risks for data corruption through hardware failure. We see this more than 60% of the SANs we check.

Claim your free EMC SAN Health Check today

In the spirit of the day, Com-Com are offering a free EMC SAN Health Check to the first 10 respondents to this email.

The health check consists of a day’s consultancy, worth £1,200, where one of our qualified engineers will come out to your site and run through a comprehensive audit schedule in order to identify any faults or areas for concern with your EMC storage array. Within 10 days of the site visit we will provide you with a full report of our findings, together with recommendations on ensuring your equipment is working to its optimum performance level.

SAN Health is critical for QinetiQ

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

When Com-Com was approached to provide an interim SAN solution for QinetiQ, we knew that the task would be demanding and the requirements would be precise.

For QinetiQ, data integrity and security is of paramount importance. With its position as a leading global technology supplier to the defence and aerospace industries, QinetiQ is not a company that’s able to take risks or cut corners when it comes to data storage.

Com-Com was contacted to assist with an efficiency saving exercise and found themselves competing directly against the manufacturer for the support of QinetiQ’s EMC central storage infrastructure. QinetiQ’s objectives were clear, they wanted to:

Improve on the existing service they received from the manufacturer
Reduce the cost of the service
Secure continuity of support for a further 12 months and beyond
Receive genuine 24×7 support

Com-Com’s approach was to offer a level of service that the manufacturer simply could not match. We provided QinetiQ with a team of named, security-cleared engineers to provide round-the-clock cover for their systems and invested in an extensive manifest of on-site spares to ensure that any issues could be dealt with promptly. Our team were able to deliver manufacturer-trained levels of support and service in four strategic locations throughout the UK, maintaining a mixture of various EMC array models and Brocade switch equipment. In addition to the day-to-day support we assisted QinetiQ with their end-of-life planning, helping to ensure that they could migrate seamlessly to a new storage solution with minimal disruption.

Thanks to their partnership with Com-Com, QinetiQ achieved their goals and delivered the following business outcomes:

50% cost reduction
SLA delivering 100% system availability
Continuity of support to provide elegant migration to new central storage solution
Unified support arrangements to reduce complexity and management overheads

Com-Com are experts in EMC SAN maintenance and support.

To learn get the best value in EMC maintenance, call us on 0845 643 1180.

Renewal time approaches…

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

Make sure you get the best maintenance for your IT budget

With the financial year-end fast approaching it’s that time of year when IT maintenance contracts come up for renewal.

With more than 20 years of business behind us we’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry and one of the main things we have noticed is how the continuing pressure on IT budgets has changed the way IT departments deal with the annual maintenance renewal process.

The end of the automatic renewal

Manufacturer maintenance has long been perceived to be the gold-standard for support. After all, who better to maintain your equipment than the guys who built it? They have the source code, the BoM and the R&D department and while it might not be the cheapest option, support from the manufacturer guarantees peace of mind.

Nowadays, the average IT department has to account for every penny they spend. With every cost up for review, and savings of up to 40% a year on the table, maintenance and support renewals are an obvious place where cut-backs can be made.

So, what if you could get a better level of service at a better price from an alternative supplier?

The third party alternative

More and more companies are turning to specialist third parties like Com-Com to maintain their mission-critical IT infrastructure. Unlike manufacturers, who have a vested interest in selling new IT equipment, third party maintainers, such as Com-Com, concentrate solely on keeping your equipment running.

Where a manufacturer is keen to phase out old equipment and move customers on to new products, a good third party maintainer focuses on extending the life of your existing equipment, breaking the three-year replacement cycle so that you can squeeze the maximum return from your equipment investments.

With IT budgets under increasing pressure, IT managers are seeking to get more value from their maintenance contracts. They are looking for keener pricing, more flexibility and a friendlier, more personalised service. Third party maintainers are able to offer a personalised level of service that few vendors are able to match: flexible billing, allocated engineers, multi-vendor support and end-of-life support.

Com-Com have been maintaining mission critical systems across the UK for more than 20 years and have formed long lasting partnerships with clients in retail, local and central government, utilities, healthcare, finance and many other industries.

Get more bang for your buck at renewal time

At renewal time these companies choose Com-Com for the great value, service and flexibility that we offer:

Cost Savings – Save 30% – 40% on manufacturer support prices.
Service - A more personalised, flexible approach from a company that cares.
Multi-vendor – Simplify your administration and reduce your costs with a single source of support for all your servers, storage and operating systems.
Flexibility – Get a contract for the period you need. Add and remove equipment when you need.

We’ve been delivering value for more than 20 years and have never lost a customer on a support issue.

OR - Call us on 0845 643 1180.

Why multi-vendor support matters

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

Over the years we’ve dealt with organisations of all shapes and sizes, in all sorts of industries. Some have budgets in the millions of pounds, others have budgets of a few thousand, some have 200 IT staff, others have 2. They have different requirements, different concerns and different priorities. Yet despite these differences, there is one thing they all have in common; a complex, multi-vendor IT environment.

The importance of buying best-of-breed

It’s almost impossible for one of our engineers to visit a customer site these days without running into equipment from half a dozen IT vendors. There’s no way around this of course, you have to buy best-of-breed. While all this choice ensures that you get the best equipment for any specific need, it can create a huge administrative headache when it comes to support and maintenance as you deal with a multitude of support contracts, suppliers and maintainers, each with a slightly different SLA or warranty procedure.

Maintenance from a single supplier to reduce cost and administration

Com-Com offers a single source of support for all your servers, storage and operating systems. Our multi-skilled support team are equally at home with Dell, EMC, HP, Bull, Sun/ Oracle, Cisco, NetApp and IBM giving you a single point of contact for all your support issues and a single monthly invoice to simplify administration and accounting.

Com-Com’s customers benefit from our broad expertise, meaning they call a single number and rely on a single company to keep their systems running. It’s this multi-vendor experience that allows us to take full responsibility for your maintenance and gives you peace of mind, knowing your equipment is in safe hands.

To learn how you can save on your IT maintenance with multi-vendor approach, call us on 0845 643 1180.

Case Study – MTV and EMC CLARiiON

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

Last year MTV selected Com-Com to provide maintenance support for their EMC storage infrastructure.

Com-Com was selected from a shortlist of several companies to provide support for two London sites as well as their Disaster Recovery centre in Berlin.

MTV’s selection criteria were stringent. They required 12 month continuity of support with allocated engineers and had aggressive cost reduction targets.

An experienced team of EMC engineers

What helped to set Com-Com apart was our approach to the challenges that MTV faced. We invited the key members of their team to visit our London offices so they could meet some of our engineers and view our extensive EMC stock resources. This gave the customer the chance to get to know the engineers they’d be working with and learn about their extensive experience of working with EMC equipment. It was important for MTV that they had an allocated team of engineers, people who they knew by name and who could be relied upon to provide a consistency of support across all areas: planning, implementation, installation, configuration and hardware and software support.

A ‘customer-first’ approach

Working with Com-Com, MTV received the security of an extensive stock of on-site spares and the reassurance of a thorough SAN health check. This ‘customer-first’ approach made sure that anything that could later turn into an issue had been dealt with and helped to ensure that MTV’s systems were running to their optimum level of performance from day one.

Thanks to their partnership with Com-Com, MTV achieved all of their objectives:

SLA delivery of 100% system availability
At least 40% cost reduction from manufacturer pricing
Engineer continuity
Breathing space for future IT planning
Manufacturer-trained engineering support

To learn how you can save on your IT maintenance with multi-vendor approach, call us on 0845 643 1180.

A record year for Com-Com

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

2011 has been another record year for Com-Com.

We’ve been growing at a steady rate since the company was formed way back in 1989 (they did have computers back then…), but our 2011 results have set a new benchmark for growth that we’re determined to build on in 2012.

60% growth in maintenance revenues

In total, our maintenance revenue increased by more than 60% in 2011. It’s a fantastic result that has only been possible due to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Com-Com. It was a real team effort, with the sales and account management departments going above and beyond to deliver a series of significant and high profile maintenance contracts for us.

Expanding the support team

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the continuing high levels of support and service that our maintenance and technical staff provide day-in, day-out to our customers. To continue delivering excellence in IT support we’ve grown our engineering resource building on our regional bases to ensure that we can provide a consistent level of expert, personalised service throughout the UK.

2012 promises to be a big year for Com-Com. To keep pace with our growing business, we’re planning to further expand the team and we will be making significant investments in the training and development of our staff to help them deliver the service our customers expect. We’ll also be launching a new website in the Spring so make sure to keep an eye out for our exciting new look.

To learn how you can save on your IT maintenance, call us on 0845 643 1180.

What to Look for in IT Maintenance

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin

In the current climate IT managers are coming under increased pressure to cut their budgets and manage their resources more effectively. One of the first things that a cost conscious IT manager will consider is how to cut down his maintenance budget. One of the most effective ways to do this is to look at outsourcing to a third party.

It’s a big decision to make, so what do you need to look for when considering outsourced IT maintenance?

Speed of response. One of the key performance indicators for maintenance companies is how quickly they can respond to your calls. You need to make sure that the maintenance company has the resources in place to meet your demands and that they can stick to a service level agreement.
Manufacturer expertise. If your company has a room full of IBM computers, you will need to find a company with expertise in IBM maintenance. While there might not matter for the bulk of your equipment, for mission critical servers you will want the reassurance of going to an expert. When you are reviewing prospective maintenance partners, ask them to provide manufacturer training certificates.
Geographical coverage. This is a key factor. It’s not realistic to expect a company based in Cornwall to support a mission-critical server farm in Dundee. Many companies claim to have nationwide coverage but you’ll often find that this is not the case. If you’re assessing potential maintenance partners, it’s important that you understand their speed of response to your target locations as that’s the only thing that really matters.
Access to parts. If your equipment is old and out of warranty, one of the most important services that a maintenance company can provide is access to obsolete equipment. One of the key things to check is whether your potential partner has a large inventory of obsolete parts. The more they have, the better this is.

More and more companies are outsourcing their IT maintenance. If you want to ensure that your equipment is well maintained and serviced it pays to do a few quick checks

What customers care about in IT maintenance

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

Recent data that was published by an IT manufacturer shed some important light on the decision making processes that were involved in selecting IT support services. Here are the decision criteria in order of importance:

Expertise. While much of the IT market is now a commodity there are still many specialist niches. The most important single factor that all decision makers agreed on was technology expertise. All interviewees stressed that they expected an IBM maintenance company to have expertise in IBM technology.
Access to parts. Many key infrastructure systems run on older technology and all respondents agreed that it was crucial that a maintainer had access to replacement parts. This entails a large inventory of obsolete equipment.
Speed of response. Surprisingly this was not ranked as a critical factor. However, all respondents expected a response time to be built into a service level agreement.

While the data did suggest some surprises, one thing was clear. Selecting a maintenance partner is an important procurement process that involves many departments and decision makers. In our experience, all of the above factors are critical but there are a number of other important criteria that didn’t appear in the report:

Personal relationships – we pride ourselves on making sure that the customer knows their engineer and that there’s a single, continuous point of contact. A recent survey we did within our own customer base suggests that this makes a huge difference to customer satisfaction.
Multi-vendor support – this comes back to the question of expertise. Most of our customers have a range of equipment from a range of manufacturers and it’s increasingly important for them that we can provide support for all of their suppliers. It’s a one-stop shop approach that reduces their overhead and simplifies their maintenance load.