IBM Business Partner · EU-based in-house team

Third-party support
for enterprise software

Third-party support for VMware and SAP — an alternative to vendor maintenance. Keep your perpetual licenses running and secure, optimize your software spend and decide if and when you migrate. EU-based in-house team, contractual SLA.

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Your roadmap, under your control

Save on licenses with third-party support

Third-party support is an alternative to vendor maintenance: you keep your VMware and SAP systems running and secure, with an SLA, without being forced to upgrade. You cut your licensing and maintenance bill, and that budget goes back where it adds value.

Cut licensing and maintenance costs

We help you cut your VMware and SAP licensing and maintenance bill, with savings of up to 50% versus official support. That money goes back into your investment budget and your team, not into renewing subscriptions.

Stay secure without forced migrations

If VMware 7 or 8 works for you, you stay. Hardening, patching and CVE response to keep running securely in production for as long as you need, with no upgrades forced by the vendor's end of support.

Stay in control of your roadmap

You decide if and when you migrate. Meanwhile, evaluate alternatives like Proxmox or OpenStack at your own pace. You set the timeline — not the vendor's end of support or Broadcom's licensing change.

Estimate your savings

Products we cover

Direct support from your own engineer. Each product has its own detail page with exact scope, SLA and onboarding process.

VMware VMware 7 & 8 support 24/7 incident response, configuration, hardening, patching and CVE response for VMware 7 and 8. An alternative to Broadcom support, with Ceph, external storage and backup integration.
  • VMware 7 (end of support) covered — patches and compensating hardening
  • 24/7 SLA for high severity with contractual penalties
  • CVE response in under 24h for CVSS ≥ 9
  • Guided migration to Proxmox or OpenStack, when you decide
See VMware support SAP infrastructure SAP support IBM Power and PowerVM, SAP HANA (certified on RHEL or SUSE), traditional SAP on AIX or Linux, storage, backup and network. Does not replace SAP functional support.
  • IBM Power and PowerVM — IBM Business Partner since 2009
  • SAP HANA on RHEL/SUSE and traditional SAP on AIX, with contractual SLA
  • Backup and network included in the same support contract
  • Compatible with SAP ECC extension to 2030 and S/4HANA migration
See SAP support

The official support clock

The end-of-support dates that shape your calendar. Knowing them in time lets you decide on your terms, not under pressure.

Feb 2024 Broadcom changes VMware's licensing model Official support moves to subscription. If you already hold a perpetual license, your right to use it indefinitely remains; what changes is vendor maintenance.
Sep 2025 End of general support for VMware 7 Official patches for VMware 7 stop. Your right to use it stays intact; maintenance can be covered with third-party support.
2026 — Now VMware 8: the last cycle with a perpetual license Upgrading to VMware 9 means adopting the new subscription model. The alternative is to extend VMware 8 with third-party support while you evaluate Proxmox or OpenStack at your own pace. You set the timeline.
2027 End of mainstream SAP ECC 6.0 SAP offers paid extended maintenance to 2030. The infrastructure (IBM Power, SAP HANA, Linux/AIX, storage) needs maintenance whichever path you choose.
SIXE Third-party support — no expiry date Dedicated engineers, contractual SLA. You set the timeline. Clients running technology the vendor declared obsolete for more than ten years.

How we do it

A model built for environments where engineer churn and escalation queues are unacceptable.

Dedicated lead engineer A single technical point of contact who knows your environment. No rotation between accounts. Available by ticketing, phone and video call.
Contractual SLA by severity Response times guaranteed by contract: 24/7 for P1/P2, extended business hours for the rest. Financial penalties if missed.
EU-based in-house team Senior in-house engineers in Spain, no subcontracting. We operate in English, Spanish and French. On-site intervention when needed.
Direct coordination with your team No middlemen. Shared ticketing, regular reports and quarterly reviews. You always know what's happening and who's doing it.

Why SIXE for your third-party support

An EU-based, in-house engineering team in Spain — IBM Business Partner since 2009. Your engineers know your environment from day one, don't rotate across hundreds of accounts, and keep the security the vendor no longer guarantees.

IBM Business Partner desde 2009
Sectors
Industry Public sector Professional services Telecommunications Education
What's included and what's not
Included
24/7 VMware incident response with contractual SLA
Full SAP infrastructure (IBM Power, SAP HANA, Linux & AIX, hypervisor, storage, backup and network)
Proactive hardening, CVE response and compliance (ENS, NIS2, PCI)
Guided VMware migrations to Proxmox or OpenStack, at your pace
Regular status, configuration and risk reports
Not included
SAP kernel patches or access to SAP Notes
Functional development on SAP modules (FI, CO, MM…)
Physical hardware maintenance outside vendor warranty
Replacing official support when it's still the right choice
IBM POWER x86 HYPERVISOR VMware PowerVM Proxmox OPERATING SYSTEM RHEL SLES AIX IBM i SAP ECC / S/4HANA Critical workloads Backup / Storage SIXE THIRD-PARTY SUPPORT
The full stack, one contract

Everything that runs
your operation, covered

SIXE's third-party support covers the entire infrastructure in a single, unified contract. No escalating to a different vendor for each layer.

  • Hardware — IBM Power and x86 Monitoring, firmware incidents and coordination with the hardware vendor.
  • Operating system — RHEL, SLES, AIX, IBM i Patching, hardening and incident resolution across every OS in the stack.
  • Hypervisor — VMware, PowerVM, Proxmox Configuration, CVEs and 24/7 support for the hypervisor, whatever the vendor.
  • Storage, backup and network Ceph, external storage, network and backup included in the support contract, with no add-on modules.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to run without the vendor's official support?
With a perpetual VMware license (or any other software) you have the right to run it indefinitely. The license does not expire when vendor support ends. SIXE provides the technical support to keep it running and secure without official support. This is common practice across companies of every size that manage their own migration timelines.
How are security patches handled without access to the vendor portal?
For VMware: patches released before end of support remain applicable. We also apply additional hardening and mitigations for later CVEs. For SAP infrastructure: SUSE SLES, RHEL, AIX, the hypervisor, the database and the network receive patches from their own vendors independently of the SAP cycle.
How is this different from vendor support or a global third-party support provider?
Unlike vendor support, your engineer doesn't rotate, the SLA is negotiated around your real criticality, and we cover the full stack in a single contract. Unlike the large global third-party support providers (with operations centralized far from you), SIXE keeps its technical team in the EU, works in your language and can intervene on-site. Official support only covers the vendor's own product and closes tickets with 'upgrade to the next version'.
What savings can I expect?
With third-party support, savings typically run around 50% of the official maintenance cost. In VMware, Broadcom's licensing change has multiplied the bill for many organizations. We calculate your specific scenario — request a savings assessment.
Can I go back to the vendor's official support?
Yes, with conditions. To reactivate official VMware/Broadcom support, the vendor is likely to require a license audit. SIXE helps you assess these conditions before making any decision. Third-party support burns no bridges when handled correctly.
Only for large enterprises, or also for SMEs?
Both. It makes sense from environments with 3–4 ESXi servers on perpetual licenses up to infrastructures with dozens of nodes. Cost is scaled to your actual environment. Let's talk about your specific case.
Next step

No-commitment assessment

We review your environment, calculate your real savings scenario and tell you whether third-party support is a fit for your case. No generalities: real environment, real numbers.

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