Here is an article I found on Information Age web site. It paints a pretty grim picture of the used equipment market due to the high cost of re-licensing; with NetApp and Cisco being the main focus.

Not to worry, there are ways around the high costs. One way is to purchase used equipment that has a transferable license. Zerowait has some of those systems available now, and others coming real soon. One of these systems, coupled with a Zerowait backed ZPA policy for hardware support, can save you a lot of money over new equipment.

Now that is only one solution, and that doesn’t get you the Ebay type bargain that the article talks about. If that is what you are looking for then you have more than software licenses to worry about. Yes there are bargains on Ebay, but how much do you want to trust a 760 that has been sitting in someone’s garage since “that computer place down the road” went out of business. How do you know it works and what assurances do you have? What if you start it up and it dies 2 weeks later? Worse yet, what if you have trouble integrating it into your system and it knocks the whole network off line; who will come to your rescue? Certainly not the Ebay seller who wants to know if you need a printer to go with your “Rare, like new F760!”

OK, I know it isn’t always that bad, sometimes you can get a good deal on Ebay, but rather than take a chance, why not buy your used equipment from Zerowait? Zerowait has their highly trained engineers test all equipment that comes in. Once sold, it gets tested again before it gets sent out to you. Zerowait can provide technical assistance as well as hardware support for all used equipment.

The bottom line is, yes, it is more expensive than you think to get used equipment re-licensed through NetApp, but there are ways around those high costs. Call Zerowait and discuss the possibilities.