Most IT professionals are familiar with server, storage, and networking support contracts provided by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), whether that be IBM, HPE, Dell/EMC, NetApp, Cisco, or any other major manufacturer. When purchasing IT hardware, customers are typically offered the a 1-3 year warranty with an optional maintenance contract. Given the financial investment that IT hardware represents, most IT managers will sign up for this service automatically and may renew it several times over the years until end-of-support-life (EOSL) is declared. Third-party maintenance (TPM) is an alternative to OEM-based support. It is delivered by other, non-OEM companies such as NorthSmartIT. At NorthSmartIT, our third-party support offerings are equivalent to or better than that of the OEM in terms of SLAs and inclusions. We add features and services to our offering including onsite parts spares, parts retention, and flexible service level agreements (SLA) to name a few.   Third-party maintenance (TPM) brings competition to the support market which traditionally has been monopolized by OEMs. By offering greater choices, TPM is helping to drive innovation in IT support, with lower costs, extend the lifecycle of your IT assets, enabling our customers to break free of the OEM stranglehold on support and upgrade timeframe. TPM is fast becoming the solution of choice by many IT professionals to control Capital Expenditure and Operating expenses spending, maximize operational efficiency while exceeding our customers’ expectations.