How to get On-Board with the Refurb Trend

Thinking about trying out refurb but unsure where to take the plunge? Here’s our how-to guide on starting the journey towards low cost, high value hardware.  

It is not difficult to buy into the concept of refurbished IT equipment. It offers massive savings compared to new, and if you find the right supplier there is no compromise on quality. With guarantees like testing certification and a three-year warranty as standard, the risks of failure are low. The financial benefits, on the other hand, are huge.

This is increasingly attractive, given the growing trend of reuse and remanufacture in the IT sector. Google has gone public about refurbished servers, storage and networking in its data centres. Cisco has set up a refurbishment business for similar products called Cisco Refresh. Apple is setting up a closed loop system for old mobile phones which at the moment recycles 65.8 million pounds of materials across its operations.

Despite this, it is still challenging to break new ground and go public about using refurb. Many organisations feel that publicising reconditioned equipment on core systems too great a risk, largely because of prejudice, fear, uncertainty and doubt. Here are three ways you can jump on-board with refurb and gain the confidence and evidence you need to implement it throughout.  

Testing

Analysis of an organisation’s own software is carried out in environments that are isolated from the rest of the network. Installing refurbished equipment in these areas enables you to save money and prove the concept of refurbished equipment at the same time. As long as the equipment stands the test of time (and if you buy from us it will), it generates a long-term feasibility study that proves the value for years to come.

Disaster recovery

With tight budgets, the traditional approach to disaster recovery is only to replicate core data. In the event of a system failure, the back-up server would continue service, but with fewer functions than the main server. This means that retrieving the rest of the data from tape and disk storage on the main server is difficult and time consuming.

Running a larger replication system means that the time taken for all services to get back on line after an outage is much quicker, which is where refurbished equipment can be of massive benefit. Savings on refurb compared to new will vary according to generation. However, it is worth noting that many of our customers have bought at least twice the amount of equipment for their budget by going with the refurbished option.

System upgrades

Here at Techbuyer we sell everything from a single memory stick to fully configured servers. We are committed to providing customers exactly what they need as cost-effectively as we possibly can. In blunt terms, lower cost equates to more hardware, giving the customer room to custom build the data centre systems they need.

With our configure-to-order service, we are able to analyse exactly where upgrades would be of most use and source the correct equipment to deliver on them. The price differential between new and refurbished means that even with additional horsepower and increased memory, the finished product is still less than customers would pay for new.