Consider Used Networking Equipment to Reduce Costs

By Matt Larson on December 27th, 2009

Having problems clearing some room under the budget to try new Internet marketing initiatives?

See if your corporate IT expenses could get a “makeover” by using high-quality refurbished (used) networking equipment such as routers, servers, switches, gbx, etc.

By “used” networking equipment, we’re not talking about out-of-date, obsolete systems or ones that have been beat within an inch of their life. Once a product comes out of the factory seal, it isn’t (hopefully) be resold as new. Companies often purchase equipment but never put it to use.

When their staff clears out their inventory, it gives large brokers the opportunity to pick up lots of Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, NetApp and other major brand-name network equipment for pennies on the dollar.

These brokers such as Impulse Technologies then resell to the public. It would be nearly impossible to keep this level of sources on-hand to pull off these buys in-house, and competition among the resellers is fierce.

That means great deals for corporate buyers looking to cut their IT infrastructure costs. The resellers also throw in guarantees, technical guidance, refurbish and test products pre-purchase etc. Our example of Impulse Technologies adds a lifetime replacement warranty on all their parts – ones they didn’t even manufacture & bought used.

These resellers also often have supplemental professional services in-house such as data center moves or asset disposal.

You won’t get that out of the average ebay seller, and you won’t get the savings of the reseller purchasing the equipment in bulk.

What kind of savings can you expect? Usually somewhere between 50-90% off retail. Shipping tends to be faster since resellers don’t have the convoluted distributor networks of authorized retailers, and often ship direct.

Most resellers have some whitepapers on-site to help build a more solid case. Stepping out into the world of used networking equipment can seem like a risk but once you have all the facts and consider the shelf-life and plummeting costs of today’s technology like data storage solutions, going “used” is a no-brainer.