IBM zSeries Server Maintenance

Yes. Our field engineers have numerous years of IBM mainframe and POWER experience. Some of our engineers have joined Curvature with previous manufacturer training and experience. Our Level 3 CE team has a combined over 150 years of experience working on IBM mainframes and POWER systems. They provide backline support to our field engineering teams globally. Our CE team also provides hands-on training to our field operations teams in our Prior Lake, MN office. This training is able to be delivered by leveraging our $5 million investment in our live mainframe and POWER environment.

Curvature currently has over 100 brick-and-mortar service centers around the globe. Within these offices, our field engineers have the ability to bring known good, tested, parts out to site. FEs typically have access to live running systems which they can utilize to ensure that the highest quality spares are brought onsite for incident remediation. All high-failure and non-redundant spare parts are kept in the local offices. Low-failure/redundant parts (such as MRUs) are kept in the regional offices. The majority of all spare zSeries parts come directly from the IBM Parts Order Center. In most cases, spare parts are new, serviceable used, or refurbished/re-certified. Curvature mimics IBM’s parts handling and usage practices intended for hardware repair.

Yes. Depending on your environment and security concerns, we have the ability to deploy different versions of our proprietary REM call-home tool. Most client environments are suitable for our REM 2.0 solution, which requires that a small appliance reside on the zSeries HMC network. The value-add of this solution is how it provides outbound service data to senior-level support teams. The service data contains current MCL levels and configuration details (such as model number, serial number, and error details), which aids in quickly diagnosing hardware problems. In addition to error alerts, the support team will receive “predictive failure” and “degraded mode” messages. The appliance can be configured to communicate directly to internet or through a proxy with authentication. If additional security is required, the appliance can be configured to encrypt outbound data.

Yes. IBM process dictates that we order MCLs from IBM’s TSMO on behalf of the client. IBM TSMO will provide the code updates on physical removable media. IBM does charge TPMs for each MCL order. The cost of one order per year per serial number is built into our MMC. Additional orders will be the the client’s responsibility to fund. The CE team executes the ordering with IBM. Once received by the local office, the MCLs are installed and activated by the local Curvature trained field engineering team.

No. TPM can provide firmware, MicroCode, or Machine Code. Only the manufacturer can provide firmware through a hardware maintenance agreement. There are other options available to IBM clients looking to move hardware over to TPM that are still in need of firmware.

No. We recommend clients keep any type of software (SWMA), z/OS, and software Xcel in place with IBM. We offer Level 3 telephone support via a strategic partner.

As of today, Curvature is supporting over 200 mainframes worldwide.