ASCDI Blog

What a year this has been!  Surely a year of "ups and downs"   While cloud services continue to grow and put pressure on the traditional "on premise model" of data processing and communications, many of our members have found new ways to grow and prosper by offering their own cloud services.  While some archaic manufacturers continue to use "intellectual property rights" as their weapon of choice to combat the independent resale and repair markets, environmental laws are creating new standards which have opened up new opportunities for the independent secondary market. Data privacy laws in Europe and now the US are defining how the data on computers and phones needs to be handled, which is turning traditional buy/sell companies into a servicing enterprises. On the ...

by Mark Dobson There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about a data breaches. The theft and sale of stolen data, including personally identifying information (PII), corporations’ trade secrets, and world governments’ most embarrassing classified information has become both commonplace and lucrative. In fact, data is widely considered more valuable than commodities like oil or gold. At the same time, an age-old problem has gotten renewed attention over the last few years: countries that do not abide by international intellectual property (IP) or copyright laws.  Right or wrong, one country in particular is consistently accused of impropriety in this area: China. Along with China, other governments around the world have upped their investment and expertise in data theft, with teams of specialized state ...

ASCDI member DTC has announced that it has won a professional services contract with one of the world's biggest telecommunications providers. The agreement focuses on a global regional program based around a resilient voice connectivity solution for customer premises equipment with additional network contingency in place. DTC says that the key-elements of the project include pre-build, staging and testing, termination, and managed logistical roll out. Additional network service assurance will be utilized within the migration plan utilizing UPS as necessary. DTC’s engineers are working in conjunction with the Operator to provide additional skills and technical resource to complete the program within a specified time frame and budget required. Learn more at https://www.dtc-telecom.co.uk/ ...

RL Networks is an Amsterdam based company offering a variety of secondary market products and aftermarket services to the IT market. In this podcast Omar Beyhum of RL Networks outlines how his company offers enterprises more value out of equipment when it comes time to retire gear and many options in between in terms of finding replacements parts and more. Beyhum also discusses ongoing issues in the after and secondary markets. Beyhum describes how many OEMs continue to spread disinformation in their effort to curtail end user access to reliable secondary market equipment, repair services and proper asset disposal. To Beyhum, the AscdiNatd represent much more than a place to network and grow sales. Beyhum believes that the ASCDI’s work on industry issues is vital ...

“We have a slightly myopic viewpoint where we just focus on the physical asset, but what the clients are waking up to is, what about my data?”, says Steve Mellings of ADISA. In this podcast, Mellings discusses legacy habits from across the IT recycling community, where historically companies saw the physical IT asset as an item to resell, perhaps after some preparation, but often not with proper management and erasure of data still might reside on the equipment. Mellings defines ITAD and describes the challenge and also the opportunity ITAD holds. Mellings discusses how the AscdiNatd vetted his organization for bringing value to the members and how the new ASCDI-ADISA partnership was forged. “Our customer’s regulatory landscape is changing,” says Mellings. “Let’s manage risk management ...

by Bob Losey, Source Data Products, ASCDI Member Blog Ever notice how our journey toward our goals may not be as easy as expected. Even so, the twist and turns we face are what make it worthwhile. Some of the greatest successes are by people who dared to fail. They just NEVER gave up! Thomas Edison’s teacher told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventory, Edison made over 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at creating the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison responded, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” I like an expression from Confucius, “Our greatest ...

U.S. General Services Administration Federal Acquisition Service Office of IT Schedule 70 Contract Operations IT Schedule 70 RFI Response: Proposed SIN 132-4 and 132-9 Retirement I am President of AscdiNatd, the Association of Service and Computer Dealers International and the North American Association of Telecommunications Dealers, an international trade association based in the United States, made up of approximately 290 Member companies who provide technology business solutions, technical support and value added services to the businesses, not-for-profit institutions and public entities (http://www.ascdi.com/).  I am writing to provide information regarding the Proposed Retirement by the GSA of Schedule 70’s Special Item Numbers (SINs) SIN 132-4 Daily/Short Term Rental and SIN 132-9 Purchase of Used or Refurbished Equipment and to urge the GSA not to make such ...

To:  Office of the United States Trade Representative FROM:  Joseph Marion, ASCDI President Docket Number USTR-2019-0012 Request for Comments to Compile the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers Submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov Submitted on: October 10, 2019 The Association of Service and Computer Dealers International and the North American Association of Telecommunications Dealers (“AscdiNatd”) is pleased to have this opportunity to provide the US Trade Representative with an opportunity to expand international trade for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). AscdiNatd is a non-profit trade association representing almost 300 companies and an estimated 10,000 employees, engaged in the resale and servicing of both new and used computer and telecommunications equipment.  Our membership includes independent resellers and original equipment manufacturers. The ...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal court ruling this week threatens the tactic of using license agreements to exert control over items such as cars, tech products and appliances. Thousands of everyday items, from autos to refrigerators, rely on embedded software in order to operate. Increasingly, manufacturers try to leverage this software to maintain post-sale control over the items. Case in point: GM cars. The automaker has buyers sign a license agreement for software that’s essential for the cars to run. GM claims that under copyright law, this makes the car buyers mere “licensees,” not owners who can use, rent or resell their cars as they see fit. But the ruling by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in the Cisco Systems Inc. vs. Beccela’s (BecTech) threatens to ...

A major reseller opportunity “Our whole business is built around certification, says Jeff Londres, CEO of NextUse. In this podcast, Londres outlines the care and precision that NextUse takes in IT asset disposition (ITAD) and data center decommissioning. Londres says, “We are the last line of defense,” in maintaining security and integrity in handling of IT products coming off line. In this special ASCDI podcast, Londres announces that NextUse is stepping up to fill the gap being left by Arrow Electronics departure from the asset disposition business. NextUse will be offering free pickups, fast track bids and a special customer on-boarding program. Londres also discusses a very accessible program for resellers and others to make revenue by partnering with NextUse. According to Londres, if a ...