What is third-party maintenance?
TPM is hardware break/fix from someone other than the manufacturer. You keep the equipment. Coverage can run during warranty, after it ends, and after the product is end-of-life or end-of-service-life.
The short version
When a disk, PSU, or controller fails, someone has to diagnose it, bring a part, and put the system back in production. The manufacturer will do that — at a price built to fund the next refresh. A third-party maintenance provider does the same work on the same iron, on a contract you control.
NETRAID has done this since 2004. One contract for mixed brands, mixed service levels, and hardware the OEM no longer wants to staff.
What TPM covers
Servers, storage, network, tape, GPU nodes, and hyperconverged appliances. Current generation, last generation, post-warranty, end-of-life (EOL), and end-of-service-life (EOSL).
It does not replace a software subscription you still need. It replaces the hardware support line on the invoice.
When teams switch
The warranty is ending and the renewal is 2–3× the original. A product is EOSL and the vendor will only sell a refresh. The room now has four manufacturers and four phone trees. Or a GPU row is going in and the OEM quote assumes you buy the next chassis too.
TPM is the contract for the hardware that is already paid for.
What you should expect
A same-day quote from an asset list. Service levels you can mix — 24×7×2 on production, next-business-day on the lab. Engineers typically within 20 miles. Parts staged nearby. Tickets in the Client Portal.
NETRAID quotes typically land around 70% below a manufacturer renewal. That is the work, priced as work — not a product cycle.
FAQ
Common questions.
Is third-party maintenance the same as a break/fix shop?
Break/fix is a ticket with no contract. TPM is a contract: named SLAs, parts on hand, and an engineer who already knows the room. Time-and-materials is still available for gear that is not on contract.
Can TPM run while the OEM warranty is still active?
Yes. Some rooms keep a manufacturer line on a subset and put the rest with NETRAID. Gap coverage and dual coverage are quoted from the asset list.
Does TPM include firmware and software?
Hardware repair and replacement are the core. OS support is a separate line (AIX, IBM i, Windows Server, ESXi, and others). Firmware policy is scoped on the quote so it matches what you are allowed to run.
Same-day quote
Request a quote.
Serials, an export, or a photo of the rack. We return a scoped quote the same business day.
Request a same-day quote.
Tell us the service you need. Hardware quotes typically land 70% below the manufacturer.