HPE Support in Switzerland After End of Life

One Component, Several Numbers

HPE identifies the same physical part under more than one number depending on how it is being supplied. There is the option number, used when the item was orderable as a configuration choice; the spare number, used when it is supplied as a service replacement; and in some cases an assembly number covering it as part of a larger unit. All three describe the same object.

Searching One Number Returns Nothing

This is where estates conclude, incorrectly, that a component no longer exists. The number in hand is usually the option number, because that is what appeared on the original quotation. Stock, particularly for an out-of-support generation, is far more likely to be listed under the spare number. The search is accurate and the conclusion is wrong.

Cross-Reference Material Thins Exactly When Needed

While a platform is current, mapping between the numbers is straightforward and publicly documented. As it passes end of support that material becomes progressively harder to find, so the difficulty of the lookup increases at precisely the point the lookup becomes necessary. The component has not become rarer; finding out what it is called has become harder.

Start From the Machine

Any number is a starting point, but the machine decides which candidate is correct. ICD works from whatever number you hold plus the model and serial of the destination machine, searches across every identity the part is filed under, and supplies across ProLiant and MSA generations past end of support — tested, serial-recorded and covered for one to three years.