Hanging on to PCs

In the end, paying to have equipment disposed of can cost more than it's worth. That's another reason why a clear and coherent disposal plan can keep your disposal costs down and maximise the value of your IT investment. Establishing an informal hierarchy of needs within the business highlights each user's relative needs; following this roadmap, systems can be routed from power users to mid-tier users and, eventually, low-end roles such as providing general system and Web access within an outlying depot.

Improvements in clustering technology are opening up another role for aging systems: Linux, Citrix MetaFrame Server, Windows Server, Oracle, and many other enterprise applications offer the ability to aggregate the computing power of whatever systems are available to them. This approach is a precursor to grid computing, in which computers farm out applications and contribute whatever they can to the overall computing infrastructure.

"Not all organisations have a handle on what applications they've got deployed, and where those apps are deployed." In a clustered computing setup, it doesn't matter how much or how little computing power a particular system delivers; until it becomes more expensive to power and maintain the system than it is to dispose of it, that system can make a small but important contribution.

There are, however, issues that must be considered before you refurbish yourself into a hole. Most prominent is software licensing, a hidden issue that can blow out your expenses in unforeseen ways if you don't monitor your systems carefully.

Licences are often allocated based on the specific machines they're used on. When those machines are retired or repurposed, it's critical to inventory the licences associated with the software loaded on those machines. If you simply reformat a system and reload new software on it, you could well lose any record of which licences were allocated to it; with dozens of applications often loaded onto systems over time, you could easily lose track of hundreds or thousands of valuable licences. And if that happens, the cost of your obsolete equipment will quickly shoot through the roof.

"There is a significant value attached to licences," says Phil Hare, regional manager of license monitoring tool provider Centennial Australia. "We find that not all organisations have a handle on what applications they've actually got deployed, and where those apps are physically deployed within the organisation. Inventory tracking software is becoming an inherent management tool; without the visibility to look into licenses and where they're deployed, companies are just travelling blind."

Licence management is handled competently by a variety of standalone products or as a part of broader desktop management suites. It's a good idea to have this capability installed, since monitoring actual license usage against bulk licence volumes is an excellent way to save costs -- particularly when licences are freed up as computers reach the end of their usable lives.

Microsoft weighed in on the issue in 2001, when it discovered Geelong charity PCs for Kids was loading old Windows versions onto systems destined for underprivileged children. The ensuing war of words between the two organisations fuelled establishment of MAR (Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher), a programme that helps charity refurbishers get properly licensed copies of Windows for their donated systems.

WorkVentures is a member of MAR, as are organisations such as Perth-based Technical Aid for the Disabled, whose 12 volunteers refurbish systems that are leased to disabled customers and updated regularly using spare parts from organisations such as the WA Departments of Treasury and Finance, and Local Government and Regional Development.

For most businesses, however, the protections afforded by MAR are irrelevant; the burden of licence compliance rests squarely on the shoulders of the companies doing the donating. By giving a working system to a charity, a company could well find itself in breach of volume licensing arrangements that saddle the charity with what are technically illegal applications. Similar problems could appear when companies resell old computers to their employees, whose use of Windows and other software might well not be covered by existing site licences.

This is a big problem for users of PABXs, who are abandoning their old systems in increasing numbers as VoIP continues its astronomical climb into the mainstream. Many PABX software licences are tied to a specific site; when the equipment is on-sold during a system replacement, that licence restriction means the sale is effectively for hardware only; the new user must acquire a new maintenance contract and software licence. This issue negates many of the cost advantages of buying second-hand equipment, and also slashes the potential residual value that PABX users can expect to get back from their equipment.

Anandh Maistry, managing director of network and contact centre integration firm Touchbase, says the uncertain economics of the used equipment market drive many businesses to squeeze every last bit of life out of even their telephone handsets. Units might be kept on as critical spares, reassigned as devices for R&D laboratories, or sent to small branch offices while others end up going straight to charities; Touchbase, for example, helped RACQ CareFlight outfit its call centre with surplus phones from its inventory.

However they're managed, holding onto the equipment in perpetuity also introduces storage and inventory management costs -- which companies such as Touchbase are equipped to handle, but end users might find to be higher than the actual value of the equipment. "There always seems to be another use for the equipment," says Maistry. "We work closely with clients to do technology mitigation. When it's technology that clients no longer need, there's no incentive for us to help except that it's a nice thing to do."