Prime Publicity at Data Centre World

Techbuyer took its first steps into the industry spotlight at Data Centre World this March as one of just seven companies featured in the Ten Year Anniversary Special sent to attendees ahead of conference opening on the 21^st March. The team gives the lowdown on the successes and opportunities the event opened for the company.

As the only stand advertising buying and selling of refurbished servers, storage and networking, the Techbuyer team found a lot of interest in the company offer amongst visitors. Representatives from well-known companies like the BBC, GE, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Ticketmaster all visited and heard more about refurbished equipment and the value it represents.

There was a lot of scope for educating people on how to recoup the value of assets by selling upgraded equipment they no longer need. As an example, we spoke to one data centre decomissioner from a multinational conglomerate who did not know it was possible to sell used equipment. Once we outlined the process in terms of collection, data erasure and a monetary return, he said he would consider this as an option in the future. 

As a premium partner for third party memory, storage and networking supplier Ortial Technologies, we shared space with them on the stand. The Ortial team were pleased with the great response to their offer of third party components representing an average saving of 40% against leading brands. 

Cost is always an issue in business and the cash savings available through smart choices proved a popular message across the board as well as with visitors from the Cloud Hosting Exhibition, which was running in the same building.

Interestingly, there were many talks on efficiency gains through reduced electricity consumption which also touched on cost savings. However, no one seemed to be talking about the financial advantages of connecting with hardware refurbishment companies like Techbuyer. This is great for us because it shows how much potential there is for our offer to grow. There may be scope for us to open up this topic at future events.

Another interesting theme was the environmental advances discussed with respect to creating green data centres. Again, much of the focus was on energy savings at operational phase and on alternative power sources such as bio-fuel.

Much less discussed was the environmental impact of regular IT refreshes on servers, storage and networking, despite the fact that servers account for a large amount of Greenhouse Gas emissions during the manufacture and recycling process. Again, this is a great opportunity for us to further the conversation, because reusing equipment at other facilities would save carbon emissions from disposal or recycling.

The conference was also a great opportunity to catch up with major customers as well as service partners Sophos and Veeam. Having the opportunity to meet face to face was great for building relationships with the teams and discussing how to improve the service we offer.