Photo by Alex Dunne

As I made the rounds on the Interop Spring 2009 show floor in Las Vegas, it was great to see that despite our ongoing economic challenges, many attendees were evaluating the latest technology options and discussing hot topics, including virtualization, cloud computing and unified communications.

Equally encouraging was speaking with network managers who recently had turned to the secondary market for more affordable, reliable equipment procurement and alternative support options. As I spoke with my colleagues from the United Network Dealer Association (UNEDA) during our first outing together as an Interop exhibitor, it became even clearer that businesses of all sizes and types are increasingly interested in what the secondary market has to offer. Read the rest of this entry »

Financial services firms have always prided themselves on their state-of-the-art communications networks to fuel large-scale electronic transactions and heavy trading. This has meant, in most instances, that network upgrades and expansions were performed using the latest and greatest equipment.

An unwavering focus on bleeding-edge technology often kept most financial services organizations out of the market for pre-owned gear… until now. As this beleaguered segment endures a self-inflicted makeover the reasons for which have been splattered across the headlines for months, one of the changes afoot is growing interest and interaction with the booming market for pre-owned networking equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

When the “dot com” bubble burst some eight years ago, one of the few upsides was the massive amount of pre-owned networking equipment that suddenly became available. As scores of ecommerce and telecom service providers struggled, they turned to the secondary market to offload their extraneous equipment. As a result, the entire market felt a catapult-like effect as the instant spike of refurbished gear filled inventory levels to an all-time high.

One of the lessons learned then, and we’re reliving it again now, is that when the business climate is experiencing a great upheaval, there’s no better time to rethink the ways we are doing business. In particular, today’s turbulent times represent a most opportune moment for companies to revisit their network equipment procurement strategies. From all reports I’ve seen, the aftereffects of the next catapult are likely right around the corner as economic forecasts predict persistent gloom through 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

In data centers and NOCs everywhere, the rallying cry of “Let’s get creative!” is commonly heard when the latest vital but under-funded project needs to find a way to get done. As with many of these necessary but open-ended tasks, the toughest hurdle isn’t getting the job done, it’s finding a way to allocate the necessary funds.

To provide some early propellant, here are five things I think every network manager should revisit with a new “creative” perspective when looking to uncover some untapped sources of budget dollars…

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While the overall economic forecast is calling for an extremely cold winter, activity in the market for pre-owned networking equipment is heating up. In my job as brokerage and acquisitions manager at NHR, I understand why these two contrasting conditions are closely related.

When the economy downshifts, causing companies to downsize or reorganize, an influx of equipment typically floods the market for pre-owned gear. In this “buyer’s market,” scores of quality, refurbished equipment can be purchased at exceptional savings. So, shoppers looking to get a jump on next year will find great deals right now on everything from current Cisco technologies, to previous generation and end-of-life. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, companies have more choices than ever when it comes to which networking equipment vendor they choose. While Cisco still reigns as the No. 1 manufacturer of network equipment, more and more end-users are expanding their vision to consider a host of others, including Juniper, Brocade/Foundry and Extreme. Brocade’s $3 billion acquisition of Foundry, for example, creates a bigger and more worthy rival for juggernaut Cisco. The union melds the complementary strengths of each company to create greater options for building enterprise-wide networks.

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The Briefcase represents Network Hardware Resale’s entry into the blogosphere—our opportunity to engage in an online conversation about the networking industry and specifically, the growing market for pre-owned equipment and third-party maintenance. There are a lot of questions and controversies surrounding the secondary market and we plan to offer our unique perspectives while dispelling myriad myths and misconceptions along the way.

Our goal is to help our thousands of customers worldwide as well as prospective customers, partners and industry observers gain fresh insights into the changing network landscape while offering pragmatic advice for maximizing constrained technology budgets during challenging economic times. That’s a pretty worthy goal, especially now that everyone is being asked to do more with less. Fortunately, over the past two decades, we’ve learned a great deal about how to build and support best-of-class networks without overwhelming support teams or overburdening budgets.

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