If your company has decided to consolidate data centers logically with virtualization technology, or consolidate them physically, one of the decisions you’re going to face is what to do with excess servers, storage and network equipment after the change. To help you work your way through the asset disposition planning and decisions, we’ve put together the following reference guide. The goal is make your data center consolidation or cloud migration go as smoothly as possible from an IT asset disposition standpoint.

I’m planning for a data center consolidation. When should I start thinking about IT asset disposition?

Right away! Any major data center project has a lot of moving parts, so many companies postpone planning for asset disposition until late in the project. But planning ahead is worth the extra effort. It will reduce stress and risk by giving you a chance to ensure data security issues and potential cost overruns have been addressed well before the rush.

What are my options for my retired IT assets?

You have the following choices, which are not mutually exclusive:

• Recycle your IT assets, following all federal and state regulations for electronics recycling.
• Reuse your IT assets.
• Remarket (or resell) your assets.

Your choice should vary by asset type and it will depend on factors like resale value and the equipment’s capacity to run your company’s applications.

What can I do about the data stored on my data center assets?

As you know, allowing sensitive data to reach the outside world is not an option. If you decide to resell some of your servers complete with hard drives, you’ll need to wipe the hard drives so that none of your data remains. Some organizations require that data be destroyed or sanitized (wiped) before any hard drives or tapes can be removed from their facilities. Choose a data sanitization provider that has been certified by a leading third-party organization like the National Association for Information destruction to ensure your data is removed using the latest, most secure methods following a documented process.

How do I know my IT assets will be processed and recycled properly?

Don’t let your company’s name appear in the news for allowing a vendor to take your IT equipment to molder in a warehouse somewhere, or to be shipped overseas illegally. Choosing a certified vendor ensures responsible and compliant environmental practices, too. Look for vendors that have received either e-Stewards or R2/RIOS certification, or both.

What about my leased assets?

If your company’s data center was built using some leased IT equipment, that should be included in the IT asset disposition planning process as well. Sometimes it’s easier and cheaper to buy out leased assets at the end of the lease, rather than return them to the lessor. Sometimes it’s not. In addition, leased assets should be segregated from owned assets, so your team doesn’t have to go searching for them in stacks of equipment later on.

How can I get help with IT asset disposition?

There are vendors that specialize in IT asset disposition—including data destruction, remarketing, lease returns and electronics recycling—and who can offer expert guidance to help companies through their data center consolidation project. Consider partnering with one of these vendors to relieve yourself and your company of the burden of asset disposition planning during the stress of a data center project.

Where can I get more information?

Download our free guide, “Cloud Migration, Data Center Consolidation, and IT Asset Disposition,” by clicking on the image below.