Back to School on Servers, Storage and Networking

Teachers, heads and stakeholders are drowning in data and fighting the strain of ever increasing budget cuts. Throughout all this, their main focus is on the core and essential need of guiding the nation’s youngest minds… which is exactly as it should be. However, there are solutions that save cost and precious time in the face of growing digitalisation. 

Photography, class projects, ICT learning, internal communications, reports, homework are part of a growing list of online activity in schools that is only set to grow further in the future and generate ever more electronic data. In the face of this growing need budgets are being slashed severely. 41% of teachers and school leaders reported cuts to IT equipment in a recent survey by The National Foundation for Educational Research. More worryingly, the same report said 63% of those questioned reported their school was cutting back on teaching assistants, and 39% saying teaching staff and that Pupil Premium was being used to make ends meet.

Doing more with less

Shrinking resources and tight cost constraints have led some to contract out solutions for storing data off site. However, this can be a false economy compared to buying servers to serve the school’s needs. As one IT manager we spoke to recently put it:

 “A lot of money is being made by third party providers of data storage that offer inferior product at inflated prices. However, the volume of data is increasing as more and more systems become electronic, and more data equates to more cost. Having local storage is very inexpensive because you get terabytes for very small amounts.”

Most leaders agree with the wisdom on this in abstract but question the practicality given the huge capital expense of new servers. They are increasingly looking towards refurbished products, asking if quality, older equipment that is restored to factory condition could be the answer. With refurbished specialists like Techbuyer offering quality guarantees and an option on consortium discounts, the product offering looks increasingly comparable to the new alternative.

The case for refurb

Refurbished product means that you can buy more power for less, making your systems faster and allowing your establishment to increase IT services. It allows services like web hosting, data backup and helpdesks to be set up on site, meaning additional cost savings as you move away from external service providers. It also makes for happier teaching, support staff and students as extra bandwidth allows information to flow more quickly.

Refurbished product represents up to an 80% saving compared to new, which allows for the kinds of upgrades described above. Refurbished specialists are also able to offer cash returns on older equipment, which then go back into the budget for allocation elsewhere.

In addition to this, there is no compromise on quality with refurbished products. At Techbuyer, for example, we guarantee every one of our products for a minimum of three years because we are 100% confident in the quality of what we sell. Our testing and performance process is extensive, and involves restoring equipment to factory settings, high quality data erasure and certification on performance.

Smart upgrades

Techbuyer is founded on a belief that tech products should serve people, not the other way around. We are experienced in configuring systems to order, adding extra memory where needed and carrying out targeted upgrades to servers. We are also able to offer build, rack and stack services to install equipment onsite. Although our core business is refurbishment, we offer other low-cost solutions on component parts. Techbuyer is a premium partner for Ortial Technologies, a third-party supplier of server and laptop memory, solid-state-drives, transceivers and cables that offer massive savings on brand alternatives.