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IBM Enterprise Support and Preferred Care options for Appliances

IBM Enterprise Support and Preferred Care options for Appliances

IBM Appliances provide a complete solution of integrated hardware and software. All IBM Appliances include the same Enterprise Support and Preferred Care options as outlined in the On-premises Software page; however, we have additional hardware upgrades available.

Here is a summary of our Appliance support offerings

Enterprise Support

Enterprise Support options Client need Features Response Goals † Hardware Support Goals Fee
Subscription and Support Strong business protection, for production workloads
  • Fixes and upgrades
  • IBM Support Community
  • Embedded Watson features
  • 24x7 support access
  • Case severity assignment
  • Severity 1: 2 hours (24x7)
  • Severity 2: 2 business hours
  • Severity 3: 2 business hours
  • Severity 4: 2 business hours
 Onsite response and parts delivery before 5pm next business day 1st year included with appliance license
Appliance Hardware Business Critical Business critical hardware support
  • 24x7 onsite support for hardware issues
 N/A Onsite response and parts delivery within 4 hours of dispatch, 24x7 Priced by appliance
Appliance Hardware Media Retention Media retention You retain the replaced Hardware Security Module (HSM) hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD) or flash memory. N/A N/A Priced by appliance

Preferred Care

Preferred Care options Client need Features Response Goals † Hardware Support Goals Fee
Expertise Connect
 Ultimate proactive business protection, for mission critical workloads
  • Fixes and upgrades
  • IBM Support Community
  • Embedded Watson features
  • 24x7 support access
  • Case severity assignment
  • Prioritized case handling
  • Assigned account managers
  • Assigned technical specialists
 Prioritized
  • Severity 1: 2 hours (24x7)
  • Severity 2: 2 business hours
  • Severity 3: 2 business hours
  • Severity 4: 2 business hours
 Onsite response and parts delivery before 5pm next business day Priced by appliance

† Review the Severity Descriptions guidelines for business impact associated to each severity level. Response Goals are intended to describe IBM's goals only, and do not represent a guarantee of performance.

Renew your Appliance Subscription and Support with Passport Advantage Online .

For a complete overview of IBM Appliances, including migration, quickstart, health check, configuration and management services, review the Appliance Support Guide .

Additional references:

  • If you are a client in the United States looking for tighter security with your support interactions, review our US Secure Support page.
  • If you require a support solution across multiple vendors, review our Multivendor Support page.
  • If you are a developer looking for help to code your applications, see IBM Support for Developers for available options.

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