What are some ways to dispose of servers and computers that are no longer needed?

This is Ohara from the technical sales department.

The theme of this blog is "A story about disposing of servers and computers that are no longer needed."

This may be a common topic for server companies and IT companies like ours, but
the general public may not be aware of it, so
in this blog, we will provide some tips for those people. I would like to write about this as well.

◆By the way, our company not only
provides "cloud construction services" and "MSP services," but also provides "hosting services" using our own data center.
However, recently there has been a shift from "hosting" to "cloud", so
there is a regular need to organize and dispose of the physical servers and network equipment that have been used up until now.

 Disposal of unnecessary computer equipment

I think the following two patterns apply to how to dispose of servers, computers, etc. that are broken or no longer in use

*Although there are other ways to sell on Yahoo! Auctions,
Beyond
considers compliance, information security, and CSR (corporate social responsibility) perspectives, so
we do not purchase or sell on Yahoo! Auctions. Not yet.

■Have it picked up by a specialist in "equipment purchase"
■Have it disposed of as industrial waste by a "industrial waste collection" company

Let's write down the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Have a specialist in “equipment purchase” pick it up.

■Advantage
● You can sell unnecessary equipment. (They will give you a purchase appraisal.)
●We will take on all the troublesome work, including salvaging equipment and erasing data on HDDs.

○To give an example of a device manufacturer, "Cisco" seems to be priced at a high price.
The reason is that even second-hand items don't drop in price much, so you can buy them at a high price.
They will also take care of removing the troublesome equipment and erasing data on the HDD for free, so
if you don't have the time, it's better to ask a professional.

Additionally, if a data erasure certificate needs to be issued, there are many companies that charge a fee.
For reference, it seems that 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen is required per HDD.

By the way, the purchased equipment
will be sold to reuse companies that specialize in used equipment sales, and will have a second life.

■Disadvantages
●Depending on the device, the price may not be attached at all.
●Separately, the transportation and labor costs of the vendor will be charged.

○On the other hand, equipment manufacturers such as DELL, HP, and YAMAHA, which are widely distributed around the world
, have almost no price tag.
As an example, the average price per unit is 200 yen to 500 yen.
(Of course, this applies to devices that work without problems.)
Other Server parts such as server rails are priced at 1 yen per set, and
LAN cables are priced at 0 yen even if there are tens of thousands of them. is. . .

Also, one thing to keep in mind when making a request to a vendor is that the final price is calculated by offsetting the assessed amount and transportation costs, so
if the assessed amount is lower than the transportation cost, you will need to pay the difference to the vendor. There is.
(The average shipping cost is approximately 50,000 yen to 100,000 yen.)
In other words, unless the equipment appraisal value exceeds the shipping cost, you will end up in the red.

As for the appraised value of the equipment,
after the equipment is salvaged by the vendor, the vendor checks its operation and calculates the final price, so
whether or not it sells at a high price is almost a matter of luck.
Additionally, even if you are dissatisfied with the appraised value and request the return of the equipment, it is generally not possible to do so.
(We too have been stunned when we saw the final estimate from a contractor...)

Have an “industrial waste collection” company dispose of it as industrial waste.

■Advantages
●Unwanted equipment can be picked up without the need for troublesome transportation work.
●There are also industrial waste disposal companies that will evaluate the equipment.

〇Different from the "purchase appraisal" mentioned earlier, this is a method of simply having the equipment taken back as industrial waste.
However, the average shipping cost is approximately 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen, but
the shipping cost is lower than that of a purchase appraisal company.

There is a reason for this,
as the purchasing companies listed above do not directly carry out salvage work.
In other words, since the purchasing company also requests transportation work to the industrial waste disposal company,
the costs for the user who requested the work will inevitably increase due to the purchasing company's intervention.
(In short, the job of a purchasing agent is ``assessment.'')

There are also industrial waste disposal companies that purchase equipment, but
the appraisal referred to here is based on the weight of the equipment, not the value of the equipment.
Therefore, "Cisco equipment" and "high-spec CPUs" that may seem valuable
are of no value to the company.

The equipment collected here is disassembled into scrap metal,
then transported to a scrap processor and reborn into new iron products.

■Disadvantages
●Since it is treated as industrial waste, formatting of HDD data is often excluded.

〇There are few companies that can format the data itself, and
the method is to physically destroy the HDD with a press, making it unusable.
However, the possibility of data leakage is not zero, so
it is best to format the data before requesting a professional.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications guidelines

summary

My personal ranking would be "industrial waste disposal company" < "equipment purchaser".
The reason is that it is definitely easier to ask an ``equipment purchasing company''.
As for the purchase price, it may feel like you are just being criticized for buying it cheap, but
the purchaser is also on point, and if you search patiently, there should be one that will give you a high appraisal.

I recently found a purchasing agent through an online search, and the following may be helpful.

◆ “Get It”, a high-value purchase of server network equipment ◆

As a reference, when we submitted an old HP model for a preliminary appraisal,
it was highly evaluated at a rough estimate of 1,500 yen per unit.
(Compared to other companies, we received an overwhelming rating.)