Introducing Reef Support: Support Contracts for the Cisco Gear You Already Run

Today we are launching Reef Support, our own hardware support and maintenance contract service for Cisco networks. It gives you direct access to experienced engineers, advance hardware replacement with parts included, and an onsite field engineer when a problem needs hands on site — all under one per-device contract, with unlimited cases for the whole term.

Here is the part we most want you to hear: you do not have to buy your equipment from Reef to cover it. Reef Support is built first for the Cisco gear you already own and run today. If a device sits in one of our supported families and is installed in the US, it can go under contract no matter where it came from — another reseller, a marketplace, or a network you inherited. There is no inspection visit to schedule and no original purchase paperwork to dig up. Coverage follows the equipment, not the invoice.

What every Reef Support contract includes

• Direct engineer access — troubleshooting, configuration help, and root-cause analysis from engineers who work on Cisco networks every day.
• Advance hardware replacement — a replacement part is on its way to your site on your response clock, with parts included in the contract.
• Onsite field-engineer dispatch — when a remote fix is not enough, an engineer comes to you.
• Unlimited support cases for the full term, at both response levels.
• Coverage beyond Cisco's end-of-service dates — Reef Support stays available for as long as you keep the equipment in service.
• Renewal reminders before your term ends, so coverage never lapses by surprise.

The seven covered families

Reef Support covers seven Cisco families, priced per device per year. Follow any family to its contract listing for full 1, 3, and 5-year pricing:

• Catalyst 9300 switches — from $437.95/yr
• Catalyst 3850 switches — from $78.95/yr
• Catalyst 2960X switches — from $78.95/yr
• ISR 4000 routers — from $78.95/yr
• Nexus 9000 switches — from $130.95/yr
• Catalyst 9100/9120/9130 access points — from $17.95 per AP/yr (coverage starts at 20 APs — that is a minimum on the contract quantity, not a requirement on how many APs you own beyond it)
• Cisco IP Phones 7800/8800 series — from $17.95 per phone/yr (coverage starts at 20 phones, on the same basis). This plan covers 7800 and 8800 series desk phones; the wireless 8821 handset is not covered.

Switches and routers carry no minimum — a single device can be covered on its own. The full pricing for every family and term is on the Reef Support page.

Two response levels, three term lengths

Both response levels give you the same engineers, the same unlimited cases, and the same onsite dispatch. Only the clock changes:

• 24x7, 4-hour — support around the clock, with replacement hardware on site within 4 hours. On a Catalyst 9300, that is $568.95 for one year.
• 8x5, next business day — business-hours support, with replacement hardware on site the next business day.

Terms run 1, 3, or 5 years, and longer terms cost less per year than renewing annually. A Catalyst 9300 on the 24x7 level, for example, works out to about $427 per year on a 5-year term, against $568.95 for a single year — one contract, one renewal date, and no annual re-quoting for gear you already know you are keeping.

How it works, in five steps

1. Tell us what you are running. Buy a contract online for a device or two, or send your fleet list through the coverage-quote form on the Reef Support page and we will build one combined quote for everything.
2. Register your devices. After your order or quote is confirmed, we email a short form asking for each device's serial number and install address. That is all we need — no inspection, no original paperwork.
3. Get confirmed. Coverage is confirmed typically within one business day of registration, along with your support access details.
4. Open cases any time. For the whole term, you can open as many cases as you need, and engineers, parts, and onsite help follow your response level.
5. Renew without a scramble. We remind you before the term ends, and renewal is a single order.

Buying hardware from Reef as well? You can add Reef Support on eligible product pages with the "Add Reef Support" option, and the cart will remind you before checkout — the same contract, with the same registration step afterwards.

Why now: coverage after Cisco's service window closes

Every Cisco model eventually reaches a published end-of-service date, after which Cisco's own service coverage for it ends. The hardware usually has years of useful life left at that point. Widely installed lines such as the Catalyst 2960X and Catalyst 3850 have already passed that milestone at Cisco, yet they still switch production traffic in closets everywhere — they have simply been running without an OEM safety net.

Reef Support exists for exactly that gap. It keeps end-of-service gear covered for as long as you choose to run it, and it is designed to sit comfortably alongside Cisco SmartNet rather than replace it everywhere: many networks will keep SmartNet on their newest core equipment and put Reef Support on the older and edge gear, so the whole fleet has a contract, a response clock, and one renewal calendar. If you are comparing a Cisco support contract for a mixed-age fleet, that hybrid pattern is usually the honest starting point — cover each device with the service that still covers it.

One honest boundary

Reef Support is hardware support and replacement, plus the engineers to work the problem with you. Cisco software and IOS downloads, and Cisco TAC, remain Cisco's — Reef Support does not include them, and we will not pretend otherwise. What it does include is everything around the hardware itself: diagnosis, configuration help, parts, advance replacement, and a field engineer when the fix needs one.

The Reef difference

Reef Telecom has always been in the business of keeping good hardware working. Support contracts are a natural extension of that: a switch that stays covered stays in service, and a switch that stays in service stays out of a landfill. Every additional year a network device runs is a year of manufacturing, shipping, and disposal that never has to happen. That same thinking is behind our partnership with the Coral Restoration Foundation — the equipment decisions made in a wiring closet and the health of the ocean are connected by how much useful life we get out of what we have already built.

Get covered

Start with the Reef Support page: compare the family pricing, read the FAQs, and either buy a contract online for individual devices or send your fleet list through the coverage-quote form for one combined quote. If some of your gear is better left where it is, we will say so. The gear you already run deserves a safety net — now it can have one.