The Cisco guideline for support and warranty services for the use of third-party memory, cables, gigabit interface controllers (GBICs), filters, or other non-Cisco components is as follows:
- When a customer reports a product fault or defect and Cisco believes the fault or defect can be traced to the use of third-party memory products, cables, GBIC's, filters, or other non-Cisco components by a customer or reseller, then, at Cisco's discretion, Cisco may withhold support under warranty or a Cisco support program such as SMARTnet™ service.
- When a product fault or defect occurs in the network, and Cisco concludes that the fault or defect is not attributable to the use of third-party memory, cables, GBICs, filters, or other non-Cisco components installed by a customer or reseller, Cisco will continue to provide support for the affected product under warranty or covered by a Cisco support program.
The nature of the defect or error is the key to determining Cisco support obligations.
Cisco also reserves the right to charge the customer per then current time and material rates for services provided to the customer when Cisco determines, after having provided such services, that the root cause of the defective product was caused by a third party vendor supplied product.
Source: Third Party Components - Cisco Policy - Cisco
