So what do you do with 250 servers and thousands of terabytes of data storage when nobody else wants it? Auction it online what else? High-tech online asset liquidator Rasmus Auctioneers is prepping $15 million worth brand new – still in the box data center gear that was dumped in its lap from a Department of the Interior lease cancellation. The entire lot, which includes Egenera blade servers, EMC Centera Servers and ADIC Digital Tape Libraries is online today to be sold to the highest bidder regardless of price. The inventory will be sold by internet-only auction at 2 pm eastern time on Wednesday, September 12, 2007. "The liquidation will be like an e-bay sale on steroids," Rasmus said in a statement. The possible fly-in-the-ointment with this data center gear is that none of it comes with licenses, support or extended warranties, Rasmus said. The equipment could fill a variety of roles from helping a company branch out their current data center or improving redundancy and backup systems. A 2006 AFCOM study of the organization's 3,000 data center members, 53% of the respondents said they plan to expand the physical footprint of their data centers within 10 years. The same study notes that by 2010, more than half of all data centers will have to relocate to new facilities or outsource some applications.
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Used EMC is a bear to license
Refurb Cisco dealers rant about how hard Cisco is to work with but I can tell you that EMC is even tougher. Getting any used equipment licensed and on a maintenance plan is a tall task. Any user bidding on this takeout should definitely negotiate re-licensing and maintenance plans with their local EMC rep before staking a claim or bidding on any of this hardware.
It is always difficult to resell complete used EMC systems due to the licensing problems. Sometimes EMC just won't do it under any circumstances nor for any price.
With that said, I do see some nice IBM Tape drives there which we'll probably bid on. These maintain a solid resale value since IBM has a good relationship with the secondary market.
Corey Donovan
Vibrant Technologies