Each Cisco product falls into one of 18 service categories. You can purchase service products from your local Cisco reseller. You must purchase the desired service product within 90 days of your hardware purchase to avoid a hardware inspection fee. A. Customers with an existing service contract with Cisco may register new products under their existing contract number. In order to gain access to the Cisco TAC, you must have a service contract.
Registration is the key to initiating any service entitlements.
Without registration, you are not entitled to service. The service product provides you with the registration material necessary to get a service contract number with Cisco. If registration is mailed to Cisco, it may take as long as two weeks to generate the contract number. A. You will need to provide both the product serial number and the service contract number when you call Cisco. When you register your service product, you are registering first for access to CCO, and then for your service contract number.