Evaluate Refurbished Servers: Three Primary Procedures

In this digital era, electronic waste is known to be the fastest growing waste stream in the world. E-waste not only ends up in landfills but is illegally traded and burned, producing hazardous gasses that cause severe health, environmental, and societal consequences.

To reduce the negative impact of e-waste, start adopting circular practices, such as reuse, refurbish, and recycle IT products. This circular economy is a positive alternative to the linear model by encouraging businesses to keep using resources for as long as possible, allowing businesses to extract the maximum value from the technology. Once products reach their End-of-Life (EOL), they may be refurbished or regenerated.

Major benefits of refurbishing or regenerating IT hardware is more freedom to design more reliable systems, reduce vendor lock-in period, and increase performance for less money. Before buying refurbished IT products, businesses need to identify certain factors, such as warranty, cost, quality, seller reputation, and support services as well as conduct hardware inspections and look for configurations, physical condition, and certification before deciding.

Understanding Refurbished Servers

Refurbished servers are pre-owned servers that have been restored into new-like equipment through a refurbishment process. This process includes several stages, such as clean the components, reset Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) factory settings, and retrofit elements to build a more energy efficient and sustainable server. Each component is tested comprehensively to ensure reliability and quality through high-operational efficiency and ability to minimize downtime.

Benefits of Pre-owned Servers

The major benefits of buying and using refurbished servers include:

Cost Savings: The primary benefit of buying refurbished hardware is cost savings. Buying a refurbished server can save a huge percentage per unit and are much cheaper than brand-new servers but provide similar quality and reliability.
Comparable Performance: One of the biggest advantages of using refurbished servers is that they offer high performance. Refurbished servers should be purchased from certified refurbishers to ensure they are highly tested. They also help organizations adhere to compliance and quality standards.
E-waste Reduction: Refurbished servers help organizations meet sustainability goals by extending the lifecycle of IT hardware and minimizing the manufacturing of new hardware. They also help reduce e-waste, which negatively impacts the environment.

Importance of Reviewing Refurbished Servers

Reviewing refurbished hardware is important to identify potential issues.

Ensure Compatibility with Existing IT Infrastructure: Thorough inspection of refurbished servers is critical to ensure compatibility with existing IT infrastructure. The assessment of pre-owned servers involves evaluation of server specifications, connectivity, and software updates. Compatibility with the existing system ensures seamless integration of servers, which also helps streamline system performance.
Mitigate Risk of Hardware Failures and Downtime: Reviewing refurbished hardware helps to address wear-and-tear issues and unexpected hardware failures for businesses to remain proactive and minimize downtime by ensuring continuous operations for the organization’s critical business processes.
Maximize Return on Investment (ROI) through Informed Purchasing Decisions: Informed decision-making is one of the critical aspects in maximizing ROI. When organizations invest in refurbished servers, overall assessment of the servers helps gain insight into the server’s performance history, reliability, and longevity, enabling organizations to make strategic and cost-effective purchasing decisions, optimize investment in IT infrastructure, and contribute to long-term sustainability goals.

Primary Procedures for Reviewing Refurbished Servers

Performance Testing: One of the primary steps in the evaluation process of refurbished servers is performance testing that involves a thorough inspection of server performance to ensure whether the server fulfills specific requirements and performance expectations. Checking server stability and reliability is also important to evaluate servers for stress testing to understand the ability of servers to seamlessly handle peak usage without compromising performance. These methodologies help organizations make informed decisions if purchasing high-performing pre-owned servers.
Hardware Inspections: Another important step in the evaluation process of refurbished servers is inspecting hardware to identify potential issues that may hamper servers’ performance and reliability. Visual examination of the servers and functional assessment by experts includes a thorough assessment of server elements and visible signs of wear and tear or any physical damage. Hardware inspections also involve the assessment of server components, such as CPU, storage devices, and RAM, to ensure servers are in good condition. The entire process of hardware inspection allows organizations to make informed decisions about buying servers that meet stringent quality standards.
Security Assessment: Security throughout a server lifecycle is one of the critical factors that organizations need to evaluate before acquiring a server. Choosing a reliable vendor is the best way to purchase a refurbished server as they offer comprehensive warranty, customer support, configuration flexibility, and the servers are gone through a thorough testing and inspection processes. This gives a peace of mind that the servers are free from all the vulnerabilities.

CXtec Advantage

At CXtec, we help businesses make the right decision when buying refurbished hardware through equal2new®, ensuring their investments align seamlessly with business needs. We offer refurbished hardware that goes through primary procedures, including rigorous assessments, testing, and certification, ensuring that each hardware unit meets high-quality standards. We offer: