IT Asset disposition services

IT Asset disposition services

Serverhuset help you do business while following the EU-directive on WEEE Table of contents We help our customers become more cost efficient and environmentally friendly by providing products and services in the regeneration and recycling of IT equipment. Improve focus on your core business Cost-efficient use and reuse of IT-related products Solve WEEE-problem and benefit from better use of resources Minimize your carbon footprint while making money Transform unwanted assets into cash Improve your cash flow WEEE directive 5 Reduce 5 Reuse 5 Recycling 5 ITAD IT Asset Disposition 6 Asset Recovery Solutions for Reuse 6 Ability to Execute 7 1. Product/Service 7 Disposition services 7 Acquisition services 7 Ancillary services 7 2. Overall Viability 8 3. Sales Execution/Pricing 8 4. Market Responsiveness and Track Record 8 5. Marketing Execution 8 6. Customer Experience 8 1) Disposition services 9 a) Project assessment 9 b) De-installation 9 c) Cage rental and Collection 9 d) On-site packaging 9 e) Logistics 9 f) Security and safety 9 g) Data sanitization & destruction 9 h) Receipt Process 9 i) Refurbishment 9 j) Remarketing 9 k) Recycling 9 2) Acquisition services 10 a) Buy back services 10 b) Trade-In programs 10 c) Operating leases / Exchange rental 10 3) Ancillary services 10 a) Short-term rental 10 b) Warranty look-up and provisioning 10 c) Valuation Services 10 d) Lease return management 10 e) Hardware sourcing services 11 2 3

INTRODUCTION WEEE directive WEEE is short for Waste electrical and electronic equipment. Since 1998, the EU commission has been presenting directives aiming to minimize environmental impacts from WEEE. The current and valid directive is WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU. Simplified, the directive wants us to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle electrical waste in that specific order. Reduce Decreasing our new hardware investments will help reduce our needs for mining materials, harvesting of forests, prevent polluting of water and air with chemical substances and leave a more sustainable future for coming generations. Basically there are two options in the IT Industry, Virtualization and Redeployment or simply investing in refurbished (used) equipment. Many organizations have adopted virtualization as common practice but there are many small to medium sized companies that has still to discover the full potential of virtualization. There might be that this requires some sort of advanced skill or expertise, so for them investing in used equipment might even be a better option maintaining similar environmental saving results. Reuse Reuse will almost always be a better choice for the environment than recycling. The simplicity of taking something already produced with minimum need for replacement parts has little impact on the environment, as there is no need to produce or add new materials. Estimates say that 80 % of the energy used is consumed in the manufacturing process and only 20 % in the actual life expectancy. Make sure your organization redeploys or remarket its IT equipment; it s the most efficient way for your company to minimize its environmental footprint. Recycling Recycling contributes to consumption of water and chemicals, as those substances are necessary in the process of producing materials. The production of new materials, even if it originates from recycling, will also generate co2 emissions. The purpose of recycling is to reduce impact on nature as we are running out of resources. Recycling basically dismantles the hardware down to component level and then recover the material to be used for i.e. produce a new piece of plastic for your next computer. There are times when recycling is the only option but do make sure that your organization uses recycling as the third and last resolution to your waste problems. INTRODUCTION SUMMARY Reduce and reuse (which is the first two paragraphs) of WEEE goes hand in hand. Does your company really need to invest in a new server? Is it possible to utilize more from the ones you are already using? Can you redeploy any of the units disposed? If not, consider buying a used one. That way you will ultimately reduce your company s carbon footprint. Managers must constantly evaluate their disposal process and it s providers. Does your organization have environmental goals connected to disposal? If so, what are those goals? Is it to minimize disposal costs? Maximize revenue on excess or obsolete inventory and assets or is it to minimize data security threats and environmental impacts of e-waste? Or, is it a combination of all? It is not easy to know where to begin; most managers will start by asking disorganized questions within the company and to employees; How do we do this and that? As a manager, you don t have to know everything but you have to set targets for the organization. A first step could be to engage an ITAD provider 4 5

ITAD - IT ASSET DISPOSITION An ITAD provider is a company or organization that specializes in products/services that help to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle electrical waste. Providers of ITAD services offer a variety of solutions to help reduce environmental impact. To qualify as an ITAD service provider the company or organization should offer at least two of the following three categories: Disposition services, Acquisition services and Ancillary services such as but not limited to; Redeployments, Data sanitization, Remarketing, Buy backs, Short-term rentals and warranty look-up and provisioning. Services must be clearly defined and structured with fixed routines and process descriptions. Customers must clearly understand and be able to prioritize their own specific requirements for these comprehensive services to optimize the management that an effective ITAD contract provides. An ITAD provider should focus on five core values. These values are: Financial values, Operational values, Environmental awareness, Security and Safety. Asset Recovery Solutions for Reuse Asset Recovery is best described as the process of maximizing both or either of the financial or operational values of unused or excess inventory and assets through effective processes for redeployment, refurbishing or recycling (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle). Many companies and organizations are still quite immature when it comes to practicing asset recovery with the goal of obtaining the greatest possible return from the asset. There are potential extensive returns from asset recovery, they are; Financial values where the process actually generates revenue back to the company, Operational values where the value are more difficult to calculate, such as social responsibility and environmental awareness and last but not least Indirect values such as actual core values for promotional use, responsibility and sustainable principles. We have put together an award system called Sustainability Points measuring your company s environmental savings and awareness. These credits show in a predefined scale where your company performs and how many points in total you have scored. The Sustainability Points award system was also created to give back. You may trade in your credits for the use of our services or products. An ITAD provider should focus on five core values. These values are: Financial values, Operational values, Environmental awareness, Security and Safety. Choose A provider -evaluation criteria Source: Gartner (November 2011) Gartner suggests that customers searching for an ITAD provider should evaluate the ITAD provider s Ability to Execute. Ability to Execute Gartner suggests in its magic quadrant that customers searching for an ITAD provider should evaluate criteria s that focus on the vendor s overall viability, financial health, breadth and depth of product coverage, service functionality, customer base and overall customer satisfaction with the services offered and with service quality and responsiveness. 1. Product/Service: Serverhuset IT Asset Disposition services team successfully operates all over Scandinavia and at places where our customers require our products and services, often in collaboration with major manufacturers but also in constant competition with global ITAD competitors such as HP Financial Services TVS and IBM Global Financing GARS. The core of our delivery consists of Disposition Services, Acquisition Services and Ancillary Services (Explained in detail further down). The product range includes but is not limited to Servers, Networking equipment, Storage systems and accessories. In 2012/2013 we are building a process- and production line for PC s, Laptops and Smartphones. Serverhuset currently produces an average of 1.400 registered units per month for remarketing, a number that is expected to substantially increase over the coming two years with the new process and production line and also from the recently built distribution recycling center, operated by Serverhuset. At present we only handle about a ton (an average of about 30 servers) of electronic waste that goes into our recycling process. Disposition services; Serverhuset Disposition services includes Project Management, Cage/Bin/ Box rental solutions, On-site packaging services, Logistics planning and execution, Security and safety advisory, Data sanitization solutions, Processes and support systems for traceability and transparency, Process facility for refurbishing, Sales and marketing organization for remarketing with more than 14 years of industry experience and recycling solutions through partnerships that meet certification standards ISO 9001/14001. Acquisition services; we supply Buyback services of excess, obsolete and aged inventory/ assets designed to generate a fast track to transform unwanted IT assets into cash. Our Trade-in programs give our clients more value; reduced acquisition costs and possibilities to maximize investments without exceeding the budget. Our experience in the secondary market gives us a unique insight in tomorrow s value. We use this experience to offer residual value positions in our Exchange rental / Operating lease program. Ancillary services; as a market leader in Sweden of Short-term rentals we generate more value and less cost in all short-term projects. For some manufacturers we can offer warranty look-up and provisioning services that includes reports regarding remaining warranty and proposals on the next step such as, investing in extended manufacturer s warranty or service and support, 3:rd party maintenance solutions or spare part programs. We will assist you in the procurement of extended manufacturer warranty or third party maintenance and we can offer you our own spare part program, whatever option best suitable for your organization. We are frequently employed by larger organizations for our Valuation services when they are considering company acquisitions or acquiring a customer s existing assets. Our service produces a net realizable value (what we would commit to in a buy back) or fair market value for what we believe we could sell our clients equipment for. Lease return management is a processing service that validates returned equipment but we also help organizations with calculations for the best possible end of lease process, escape return costs or resolve with profit. Our most experienced procurement staff will ensure you ll get delivery of products that are hard to get due to market constraints or even those who are no longer in production. 6 7

2. Overall Viability: Since it s founding in 2006, Serverhuset has been all about ITAD Services. Our viability consists of a high demand for our product expertise, market knowledge and maintained contacts in the market place. Among privately held companies operating in Sweden, Serverhuset is one of the largest providers of ITAD Services for the data center with a solid reputation and high customer satisfaction. The Scandinavian customers are still quite immature when it comes to ITAD services, but the market is under development with a comprehensive volume increase year by year. Serverhuset is, well situated for the growing demand, positioned in the front and leading the development by continuously adjusting our services to meet new client demands. 3. Sales Execution/Pricing: Some of our characteristics are our prompt response times, flexibility to meet customer requirements and accurate lead times of services and products. Preparation is crucial and our project management places great emphasis on the project evaluation stage. As we compete with both local and global competitors, we respond with stricter requirements on our own ability to plan and optimize routines and process flows, giving more value back to our clients. 4. Market Responsiveness and Track Record: Our track record displays a great ability to adapt to the markets changing demands and structure. In the beginning, we focused on the SMB market when many companies still managed their Studies show that a well-planned sanitization process is vital for the customer experience IT operation locally, every application had its own server and the companies were aiming for a uniform client environment. Today, we cooperate with manufacturers, distributors, resellers and cloud service providers to support and add value to their offers and to meet demands on their own business. We are constantly listening to our clients request and together we build a sustainable future adding new services and developing new processes and production lines. This has been and will continue to be one of the most crucial factors for continuous success. 5. Marketing Execution: We work only with a limited selection of clients, which in turn put greater demands on the organization s quality than quantity. Serverhuset has no major sales organization or marketing department. We mainly conduct reactive sales operations as clients usually contact us after recommendation received from other clients or partners. A good example of this is our collaboration with a major distributor and a global manufacturer in eight different countries within EU, managing trade-in leads generated through a campaign tool provided by them to their resellers. Serverhuset recently built an all-new distribution recycling center for the Nordic IT market. The center is operated by Serverhuset in a full-scale collaboration around ITAD-services. 6. Customer Experience: All our clients get their own designated account manager, responsible for proactively follow up on contract activities, suggesting improvements and together with the customer develop the process towards more added values. Clients also have online access to the process in our portal shuts, Serverhuset Unit Tracking System, that provides full traceability and transparency. Most of our customers from 2006/2007 still use our services and many have also expanded the cooperation to include more ancillary services, such as residual value programs and short-term rentals. Serverhuset itad services 1. Disposition services a) Project assessment To be able to assess the best operation for the project we need to collect some basic information. All this information is gathered in two documents, Quote Request Form. xls and Retrieval.doc. Here we are gathering information about Age and technology level of the system, Condition and remaining warranty, spare parts availability and logistical specifications. b) De-installation De-installation is normally done by the customer s personnel but may occasionally be performed by our staff or by our partners. Project assessment decides what option and who to use. c) Cage rental and Collection Typically most equipment is loaded on to pallets but may not always be the best option. An evaluation of the criteria, safety, cost and value of the goods will determine what option to use, considering the potential on pickup location. The starting point is the loading on the EU pallet but our customers can rent, wire cages, locked security cages and safety deposit boxes or customized packaging on order. Collection type is assessed based upon the decision of packaging materials. d) On-site packaging Packing on site is normally done by the customer s personnel but may occasionally be performed by our staff or by our partners. Project assessment decides what option and who to use. e) Logistics A number of prerequisites decide whom to assign the transport to. First of all we make sure transportation is covered by insurance. Our company vehicles can advantageously carry out transports in and around Stockholm. Logistic partners will carry out heavier transports. In rare cases specialized logistics companies might be the best option. f) Security and safety Safeties first, we always evaluate potential risk of personal injury. What are the data sanitization guidelines and policy? Can i.e. hard drives be transported in their servers or do they need to be transported separately in safety deposit boxes or is this a high classified project that need sanitization on site? Together we evaluate and act. g) Data sanitization & destruction Data sanitization and data wiping are not the same, sanitization removes all forms of physical identifications and stored logical data, i.e. IP addresses, locations, name of administrator, markings etc. whilst data wiping removes logical stored data on physical storage media. Other options are degaussing or physical shredding. The later options destroy any potential resale and are costly in both handling and environmental impact. h) Receipt Process Initial visual inspection is done both at the project assessment and upon receipt at our premises. At this point materials are sorted for recycling or re-marketing and divided into separate production lines. Materials for recycling are weighed and documented as discarded in the ERP system. Products to be re-marketed are registered with serial number, assigned an asset tag and documented in the ERP system on the valid purchase number assigned to the project. i) Refurbishment Refurbishment is the process that aims to re-establish a good condition to a product from its current used state and ensure its quality. A proper refurbishment process contains but is not limited to: 1. Pre-check Visual inspection Content Survey Part number verification Serial number harvesting 3. Refurbishment Physical cleaning, in & outside Function test of all crucial components Replacement of faulty parts Parts added or part removal to its original specification 2. Data sanitization Physical sanitization Logical sanitization Data erasure Bios password removal 4. Reset to factory default Firmware upgrades Specification survey Condition grade system Post-check Warranty check Warranty management Wrapping Freight processing j) Remarketing All products with condition ref and status received are uploaded to the remarketing web shop and all the member sites. High value products get their top spot in the weekly newsletter. Items not sold after initial 30 days in stock will get bundled with similar products and offered as a take all. Items not sold after 45 days will be marketed on auctions. k) Recycling All products marked for recycling are weighed and reported back to the customer. Items are picked up by our partner for recycling. Project assessment can also decide when creating the initial project plan to dispatch separate wire cages assigned for recycling of materials. These cages can be rented on a monthly basis for long-term contracts. Our recycling partner holds numerous certification standards, such as ISO 14001, ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 and EPA. 8 9

2. Acquisition services a) Buy back services Many companies may for one reason or another dispose excess inventory even though they are still fairly new, sometimes even factory sealed. In this case most customers need to get a fixed value for their equipment. The buyback services aims to give the customer a fixed value without any deductions for freight or processing. To calculate the fair market value the customer fill out a Quote Request Form which gives us most of the necessary information to be able to calculate and present an offer. Often this is high value equipment and the aims are to present a tender within 24 hours. b) Trade-In programs The trade-in programs/services are designed for specific customer needs and each opportunity has its own uniqueness. These programs and services are provided to customers who have an extensive exchange ratio of hardware and potential high value equipment. A credit line is created for the customer where remarketed values are stored for the use and settlement against ancillary services such as short-term rental or hardware sourcing. c) Operating leases / Exchange rental Exchange Lease is a financing form that gives you the option within a lease contract to replace one third of the equipment each year and without any changes to the monthly fee. Sometimes it is required that a change of platform takes place faster than the depreciation rate. An ITAD normally have the experience in the used hardware market and can provide the crucial and utterly skills needed to take the residual value positions necessary and create a greater investment scope in the customer s budget. 3. Ancillary services a) Short-term rental Short-term rentals are most often used when customers do not want to get stuck with unnecessary charges imposed on fixed-term needs. This is an option to actually investing in something that is expected to have a limited time of use and still containing a great financial value after usage. It may also be considered that operational values such as the environmental impact can have negative effects on the company s accounting and ownership thereof is not preferred. In some cases redeployment would be an option after its initial purpose is consumed. Redeployments are one of the ancillary services provided by Serverhuset. b) Warranty look-up and provisioning Serverhuset can assist in the determination of the remaining OEM warranty and provide its financial expertise in used equipment for decisions of when certain hardware should be sent for remarketing/ recycling or extension of the OEM warranty, providing spare parts solutions or provision a service agreement. c) Valuation Services Our Valuation services will assist accounting and sales organizations determining the actual value of equipment considering an outsourcing opportunity or a company takeover. A determination of the net realizable value gives organizations the instruments needed to calculate real stock values. d) Lease return management Serverhuset can help organizations calculate if and when a lease should be resolved or returned. There might be higher values concealed in hardware than the actual residual values even if the customer has no use for the equipment in its existing environment. There is no need to waive potential additional revenue. Except our extensive remarketing network, experience and our industry contacts, the success also depends on the type and age of equipment. e) Hardware sourcing services Most ITAD s have a close relationship to the broker market and certainly knows the tips and tricks to solve availability constraints. Some ITAD s also supply the OEM s with equipment and has the connections within manufacturing to cut through the many layers of providers included in the Serverhusets technical staff has been trained and certified as Blancco approved technicians. Blancco is the most renowned and certified provider of data erasure in the industry since over 15 years. Blancco is the proven data erasure solution for millions of users around the world. As the pioneer and global leader in data sanitization and end-oflifecycle solutions, the company offers the most certified data erasure within the industry. Secure erasure Blancco permanently removes data from IT assets such as PCs, servers, data center equipment and smartphones. Data erased by Blancco cannot be recovered with any existing technology. Detailed reporting A detailed report is proof of successful data erasure. Blancco s tamper-proof and verifiable reporting is an essential part of normal channel thus having access to equipment at earlier stages. Note that this type of ancillary service should be used with caution and should only be performed by a well-experienced ITAD that can guarantee authenticity and offer a protection against counterfeit products. Serverhuset can assist you in all you hardware sourcing needs. f) Redeployment services Through the cooperation with a distribution partner we can supply redeployment services at the newly built recycling center including full scale image preparations, license control and reverse logistics. BLANCCO SERVERHUSETS CHOICE OF CERTIFED DATA ERASURE PROVIDER compliance, regulatory and legal auditing requirements. Auditable process A comprehensive audit trail is a critical requirement for compliance with IT security standards such as ISO27001, ISO15408, PCI and FISMA. Fully Certified Data Erasure As the pioneer and leader in certified data erasure, Blancco is committed to the highest quality products. Blancco have over ten national and international third party approvals, certifications and recommendations including Common Criteria (ISO 15408). Blancco meets and exceeds all major international standards for secure data erasure, making it the most trustworthy data erasure solution on the market. 10 11

Summary - choose serverhuset as your itad provider Thank you for showing interest in our products and services, we highly appreciate your business. We hope this white paper promotes your evaluation of your future ITAD provider. By choosing Serverhuset as your provider you will get an experienced team of dedicated professionals giving their best to meet or exceed your expectations. We are dedicated to the restoration of financial values, assurance of privacy and your safety. Everything we do has a clear focus towards our environmental goals; together we reach a little further, creating more benefit and challenge old truths with the constant development of processes and procedures. All our customers quickly notice the benefits with us as a supplier, financial and operational, it is our intention that you will too! Whether you have a need to ensure safe removal of digitally stored information, recreating financial values from no longer desirable or old equipment, improve and restore old equipment or clean recycling, we have the services, processes, routine and dedicated staff. Yours sincerely, Andreas Backlund, Managing Director www.serverhuset.se andreas@serverhuset.se Dir: +46 8 58 88 59 51 Text: +46 70 61 111 58 Serverhuset AB, Sågvägen 11c, SE-184 40 Åkersberga, SWEDEN Serverhuset AB, Hangargränd 1, SE-961 43 Boden, SWEDEN Switch: +46 8 58 88 59 50, Fax: +46 921 48 90 38 VAT: SE556717240701