Memory Component Issue: Replacement Program

Cisco strives to deliver technologies and services that exceed customers’ expectations and meet rigorous quality and customer experience standards. Through regular product quality monitoring, we identified an issue with certain memory components manufactured by a single third-party supplier and contained to a specific date range. These components could exhibit higher-than-expected failure rates in a small number of Cisco products.

Cisco will replace some affected products. Instructions for customers and partners to determine impact and initiate replacement orders are outlined in published Field Notices listed in the Field Notices tab. Conditions and triggers that might accelerate memory component degradation are variable, and as such, it is our intent to give visibility on this issue so that customers have the flexibility to plan the timing of product replacements around maintenance activities to minimize business disruption.

We will continue to monitor product quality and if failure rates change on any other products with this component, we will issue Field Notices with appropriate guidance and update the Field Notices tab with new details.

These components are widely used across the industry. While most Cisco products using these components have failure rates below expected levels, the components are known to slowly degrade over time. We have addressed this issue with the supplier, who has already taken corrective action.

Overview

Q: What is the issue?  
Through regular product quality monitoring, we identified an issue with certain memory components manufactured by a single third-party supplier and contained to a specific date range. These components could exhibit higher-than-expected failure rates in a small number of Cisco products. Based on this review, Cisco will replace some affected products. Instructions for customers and partners to determine impact and initiate replacement orders are outlined in published Field Notices listed in the Field Notices tab.

Q: What Cisco products are affected?  
We published Field Notices for some affected products with instructions to determine impact and initiate replacement orders. The list of these affected Cisco products with active replacement programs is available in the Field Notices tab.

Q: Are there other Cisco products that use this component that are not covered by the published Field Notices? 
Yes, there are some products that are not covered by field notices. In these cases, we will maintain its standard practice of replacing failed products in accordance with a customer's warranty or support contract.

Q: Is this a hazardous issue?  
No, there is no risk of fire or other hazards.

Q: Is this a product recall? 
No, this is not a product recall.

Q: Is this issue specific to Cisco? 
No, these memory components are widely used across the industry.

Q: What other companies or Cisco customers are seeing this issue? 
Cisco does not comment on other companies or confidential customer information.

Q: Who is the supplier of the impacted component? 
Cisco does not comment on our supplier relationships.

Cisco's Response

Q: What action is Cisco taking to remediate this issue and fix the affected products?  
Cisco will replace some affected products. Instructions for customers and partners to determine impact and initiate replacement orders are outlined in published Field Notices listed in the Field Notices tab. For those products that are not covered by the published Field Notices, we will replace failed products in accordance with a customer’s warranty or support contract.

Q: Has Cisco resolved this issue with the supplier? 
Yes, we have addressed this issue with the third-party supplier, who has taken corrective action. No products currently shipping contain memory components associated with this issue.

Customer Support/Remediation

Q: How can customers validate if they are impacted by this issue? 
Instructions to determine the scope of impacted products and initiate replacement orders are outlined in the Field Notices. Please see the Field Notices tab for details.

Q: Are there any workarounds or software fixes for this issue? 
There are no workarounds or software fixes – this issue is not software related.

Q: How do customers request proactive replacements? 
Please refer to the Field Notices for detailed guidance on how to submit replacement orders.

Q: How can customers track shipment of replacement orders?  
Once the replacement order is submitted, a pop-up message will confirm the information. It can take up to five business days to process the final order. After that, a notification with details of the final order will be sent. Please note: these orders are proactive replacements and do not adhere to Service Level Agreements or service contracts. Some countries have strict importation regulations and extended lead times may occur for these replacements.

Q: Will Cisco provide field engineering services to support implementing the replacements? 
Please refer to the individual Field Notices for availability and details.

Q: Will the replacement device come with a warranty? 
Replacement units shipped as spares from a Cisco Service & Logistics depot will contain a provisional 30-day warranty and will assume any remaining warranty on the original product once the return-RMA is received and processed by Cisco. Replacement units shipped new from Cisco manufacturing will contain a new product warranty. DIMM replacements will assume the warranty of the parent product.

Q: Do affected products need to be returned to Cisco? 
Once replaced, the affected devices should be returned to Cisco unless stated otherwise in the Field Notices. This process is separate from our standard return process, which is typically included within the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA). Please follow the return instructions as outlined in the Field Notices.

Q: How will Cisco handle licensing? 
Licenses will be handled similar to traditional RMA and will not ship with the product. Customers may need to contact the Global Licensing Operations (GLO) support team to re-host any existing licenses to the replacement unit as they are node locked via traditional PAK-based licensing. For assistance, please contact Cisco Support. Customers with Expert Care may contact a High Touch Operations Manager (HTOM) or Field Engineer for assistance.

Q: Who can customers contact for support or answers to questions not addressed here? 
For assistance, please contact Cisco Support.

Published Field Notices for this Issue

Cloud and Systems Management

Routers

Servers - Unified Computing (UCS) and HCI

Switches

Unified Communications and Conferencing

Wireless