Buying used gear

In searching for voice over wireless users a few months ago, I came across several Cisco Wireless IP Phone 7920s for sale on eBay. The listings warned buyers that the phones wouldn’t work in their homes without CallManager, and I wondered what average consumer would want to pay hundreds of dollars for a phone.

According to a recent story in our sister publication Computerworld, eBay is a popular place for enterprise network managers to turn to for used gear (see www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0513niuse.html). Yahoo and uBid also have pages devoted to hawking NICs, hubs, switches, routers and other networking gear.

Another option is a company that resells used network gear. These outfits are plentiful, including such firms as CriTech Systems, National LAN Exchange, Network Hardware Resale, Network Liquidators, Optimum Data, Recurrent Technologies, and Usedrouter.com.

Naturally, though, buying used equipment is not without its risks. Consider the financial viability and reputation of the seller, warranty issues, total cost of ownership and support issues. Are you an IT director who has turned to used gear to meet some of your firm’s infrastructure needs? How did the experience work out for you? Let me know at aschurr@nww.com