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 unique our 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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