Has anyone out there had experience with 3rd party support of HP
     hardware. If so, is it good or bad and what were the relative costs.
 
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I'm extremely biased in this area since I have worked as a CE for both
the OEM and two third party hardware service providers so I'll try to
keep the personal opinions to myself but provide you with a couple of
pointers that have helped others in deciding.
 
1) The good or bad part is a function of the people providing the
   service. If you had lots of time to sample a significant number of
   people using 3rd party maintenance vs. those using OEM maintenance
   you would find about an equal percentage of those who would never
   switch either way. I did anyway.
 
2) The pricing for 3rd party hardware support is very competitive and
   typically runs in the range of 25%-40% below the OEM's prices.
 
3) Only those who have used third party maintenance can tell you anything
   of value about it. A reputable firm with nothing to hide will be
   happy to provide you with a list of references that includes names
   and addresses (often phone numbers too) of system managers using
   their support.
 
4) Never listen to someone giving information about their competition.
 
5) Check out the company's credit (D&B, TRW, etc.) to be sure that
   they'll still be there when you need them and to verify that they
   can obtain high ticket items on short notice..
 
 
                                                  Hope this helps.
 
Bob Jankalski -- Ideal Computer Services