What is the Difference Between Cisco Original Memory and Third Party Memory

What's the difference between Cisco Original Memory and Third Party Memory?

One secret to Cisco "Original" memory is that Cisco does not manufacture any memory themselves.  The memory parts customers get when they purchase Cisco equipment are manufactured by a Cisco approved OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). The OEM could be any company from Cisco's Approved Vendor List (AVL) which includes companies such as OKI Semiconductor, NEC Electronics, and Samsung among others. Cisco does not make their AVL public.

Approved/OEM Cisco memory refers to memory parts manufactured by companies on Cisco's AVL; these memory modules have been engineered specifically for use by Cisco Systems and undergo strict and comprehensive testing before being approved by Cisco for use with their routers and other products. These modules are guaranteed to have 100% compatibility with their corresponding Cisco equipment and are backed by a lifetime warranty.

Third party memory modules on the other hand are manufactured by companies not on Cisco's AVL and are not tested nor approved by Cisco Systems. The manufacturer does offer warranty and compatibility guarantee for these memory modules but Cisco does not. And although manufacturers of such memory modules claim to be fully compliant with Cisco's specifications, Cisco does hold the right to refuse service, under warranty, when the fault is deemed to be caused by the 3rd party memory modules.  PC Wholesale guarantees compatibility for all third party Cisco memory modules, many of which are built to exceed Cisco's specifications.  Also, all third-party memory sold by PC Wholesale has a lifetime warranty - Cisco OEM/Original memory is only under warranty for 90 days.  In addition, the cost of third party memory can be considerably less than Cisco Original/OEM memory.