After a data center migration, relocation, merger, or similar project, companies frequently have to upgrade or consolidate their data center hardware.
Regardless of the background circumstances, the data center decommissioning process requires comprehensive planning and management. Projects often involve several vendors, strict timelines, and many variables.
We’ve worked with some of the largest data center companies in the world, and we are happy to provide references. Contact our expert team and we will help you plan and execute your project successfully.
The Data Center Decommissioning Process In the first phase, we reach out and establish the:
We will provide you an expert project manager if no in-house team members have extensive experience with data center decommissioning.
The budget will be supported by profit sharing on the back end based on an initial assessment of the resale value of your equipment.
If we’re not a fit for your organization due to the value of your equipment, budget, or your specific project needs, we can help refer you to an organization who would be better suited for your data center decommission project.
If it’s a good fit, we’ll get to work with you to create a thorough project plan and execute it successfully.
Data Center Decommissioning Services
1. Discovery and asset list reconciliation
Before initiating the data center decommissioning project, an audit of the data center environment of assets to be decommissioned can be beneficial. Many times, additional assets to be decommissioned are found which provide extra capital to be profit shared. Other times, asset maps contain errors, and mission critical servers are decommissioned erroneously or before workloads could be migrated. We can use agent-less discovery tools that are minimally invasive, or do manual asset audits depending on your compliance needs.
2. Validate and decommission IT hardware and infrastructure
Regardless of your data center environment, we can securely decommission your equipment. Whether you have standard server racks with traditional air cooling equipment, or immersion cooled HPC clusters.
3. On site data erasure or drive shredding with certificates issued
Many of our clients feel peace of mind when all data is certifiably erased before any data-bearing media leaves the premises. As a result, we offer on-site drive erasure to the triple-pass DoD standard. (or any standard the client prefers) We also provide on-site drive shredding for clients who require it.
4. Packing and shipping of assets with complete chain of custody and asset tracking
There’s no need to waste precious IT staff on palletization and logistics. We will ensure that servers are packaged securely and reach their destination undamaged. At every juncture where possession changes, the chain of custody will be recorded. Your servers will be GPS tracked from you to us, and your assets will be insured to protect you from any risk.
5. IT asset redeployment or remarketing
exIT Technologies specializes in remarketing data center IT equipment. While many IT disposition companies only acquire equipment from decommissioning projects, we purchase disproportionately large volumes of data center equipment outright, often from other ITAD vendors, simply because we are able to recover more value from it. For those clients who would like to repurpose their IT hardware for use in a department with lower compute demands, we can arrange for redeployment within their enterprise.
6. R2 certified recycling of end-of-life or proprietary hardware
We maintain a certification to the R2 standard and are regularly 3rd party audited to ensure that we are compliant with environmental policies and regulations.
7. Decommissioning project management
For clients that wish to carry out the majority of the decommissioning project themselves, we are happy to provide a project manager to help ensure data center decommissioning best practices.
Considerations When Choosing Between Data Center Decommissioning Companies
The main factors to consider when choosing a data center decommissioning company are:
1. Certification and compliance needs
For environmental compliance, R2 or E-stewards should both cover most organizations’ needs. If you don’t know which data or asset disposition regulations pertain to your company, we can help you determine which ones are applicable.
2. Specialization
Because projects vary greatly, many data center decommissioning companies specialize in certain types of projects. A project with a large volume of low volume equipment would benefit most from a company focused on recycling and disposition. While a project with involving still valuable IT hardware would benefit most from a decomissioning company who specializes in remarketing IT assets and profit sharing, such as exIT Technologies.
3. Logistics
Depending on which countries and how many locations your project entails, some companies will be better suited than others. For example, exIT Technologies is well equipped for global projects carried out over multiple locations simultaneously, while some companies may only work nationally.
