Network Hardware Resale vows to "keep VARs honest"
Every enterprise should have a relationship with us, as well as their reseller, claims refurbished kit giant
Network Hardware Resale (NHR) has issued a battle-cry to the authorised channel after expanding into servers, storage and own-branded optical hardware.
The US-based firm is the world's largest independent provider of used and surplus networking kit, with revenues set to hit $250m this year.
After moving into the server and storage arena in May, NHR has launched a range of own-branded optics offering claimed discounts of 70-90 per cent on OEMs such as Cisco, Juniper, EMC and NetApp.
Talking to ChannelWeb, NHR chief executive Mike Sheldon said the firm has spent the last ten years evolving from its roots as a Cisco broker into a solution provider servicing the end-to-end data centre needs of enterprise customers.
"90 per cent of our sales are now to end users and we are providing a much broader set of services than we used to," he said.
"We are never going to replace [an enterprise's] core VAR for, say Cisco, as there are a lot of things that should be bought new. But every enterprise should have a relationship not only with a big VAR but also with us, because we can provide much better value.
"We think we should have a place next to the VAR, whether that's Computacenter or Logicalis, or whoever. We'll keep them honest and save [the enterprise] a fortune."
NHR claims it typically sells Cisco kit at 75 per cent off list price, compared with the 40-50 per cent discount enterprises would usually net from authorised channels. The firm recently began offering a lifetime warranty on all its products and four-hour response times on maintenance.
Despite regularly competing with them for end-user business, NHR also works with authorised resellers on maintenance and asset recovery deals. Sheldon said the new line of optics would appeal to resellers looking to win business with cost-conscious customers.
"The optics expansion is a recognition that there are pieces of the networking and data centre value chain where products are 100-per-cent commoditised," he said.
"The optics aren't made by the OEMs, so we have disinteremediated them and found the same manufacturers they use. It wasn't hard to find a price point where we can be 75 per cent less than an OEM for the identical device."
Sheldon said that NHR can now cater for 90 per cent of an enterprise's data-centre needs.
"The other big expense is software and we are actually looking at that too," he revealed. "We hope by next year to cover, from both the primary and second market perspective, 100 per cent of the data centre."
NHR hasn't expanded geographically since it launched a New York and London office in 2008 but Sheldon said greenfield start-ups in Japan and other countries are slated for next year.
"It's the right market to be in," he said. "If the customer is buying anything, they tend to go for the least expensive option so we have been fairly resilient."