March 4, 2021 (Alpharetta, GA): XSi (XS International) is pleased to formally announce a service which helps companies reduce Cisco SMARTnet costs while being fully assured of entitlement compliance. With the introduction of Smart Licensing, Cisco permanently changed its clients’ ability to reduce their annual Cisco SMARTnet spend. Specifically, Smart Licensing created a technical barrier for anybody but the original purchaser to use the hardware. This policy change created a roadblock to proactive cost containment by using independent hardware maintainers (aka “third party maintenance” providers) and hardware resellers. Currently, all Cisco hardware that’s newer than five years old is subject to Cisco Smart Licensing.
XSi’s Cisco Lifecycle & Asset Assurance Program
XSi clients can achieve the OpEx savings of Third Party Maintenance while maintaining 100% compliance with OEM entitlements and licensing policies. XSi provides clients a simplified method to achieve greater cost savings while ensuring compliance and deploying ITAM best practices. Clients contain their annual SMARTnet spend without the complications of managing a self-sparing policy; and, in addition to proven contract management and TAC support, XSi manages the complicated and time-consuming details of parts logistics for its clients in a way that mirrors their existing support contracts.
“This XSi service expands the class/type of Cisco assets (50-80% more assets) able to be moved off SMARTnet, yet are unable to be supported (without great risk) by any other independent maintenance provider,” stated Grant Patten, XSi VP of Service Delivery. “Here are a few examples of Smart Licensed hardware that other third party maintenance companies can’t maintain (assuring entitlements compliance), but can be maintained by XSi with 100% compliance assurance: Catalyst 9300s, 9400s, 9500s; Nexus 9k Family; 3850s and ISR Routers beyond IOS 16.”
“We often say: you’re either overpaying for Cisco SMARTnet or you’re at risk of a costly audit,” offered Scott Keiran, XSi VP of Commercial Sales. “This service provides 100% entitlement compliance! And, it eliminates any risk created by your current independent providers,” stated Keiran.
“It should also be known that our detailed quoting tool is available to anyone prepping for their SMARTnet renewal. Rather than waiting weeks for your VAR to return pricing needed for budget planning, a quote from XSi always includes a preview of current Cisco pricing, which is 98% accurate,” offered Todd Bone, XSi President & Founder. “This Cisco pricing preview isn’t provided by most other independent maintenance providers,” added Bone.
To read more about XSi’s Cisco Lifecycle & Asset Assurance program, click here.
About XSi
Founded in 1990 and recognized by Gartner, XSi helps companies deploy a hybrid hardware support model to save important hardware operating expense budget dollars. As an Independent Hardware Support Provider (an industry also known as Third Party Maintenance), XSi provides hardware support options for networking hardware, servers and data storage assets. In addition to servicing enterprise accounts, it also supports Systems Integrators and federal agencies (XSi is ISO9001:2015 Certified for Product Resale, meets SAE AS5553 Standards, currently supports 42 federal agencies and all of the Top 10 Federal Systems Integrators). XSi encourages interested parties to follow its business profile at LinkedIn for weekly blog postings from its Subject Matter Expert team.
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