Friday, April 11th, 2008
San Francisco firm sells used computer networking equipment to businesses who don’t want — or can’t afford — to buy it new. When companies are pinched for cash, demand for Townsend’s secondhand routers and switches rises. So does supply.
Monday, March 24th, 2008
Foundry Networks’ ServerIron Honored With SearchNetworking.com 2008 Product Leadership Award
ServerIron Wins the Silver Award in the Application Delivery Controller Category
March 24, 2008: 08:00 AM EST
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 24, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that the ServerIron(r) family of application delivery switches received a Silver Award in the category of application delivery controllers (ADC) for the SearchNetworking.com(tm) 2008 Product Leadership Awards.
The Awards span 12 networking product categories and recognize 36 products that enterprise IT professionals should consider adding to their “A” lists of networking products to evaluate. Winning products were selected by 1,800 networking professionals based on their assessment of products currently deployed within their own enterprises. Participants were asked to evaluate the networking products according to defined product-specific criteria, each of which was assigned a weighted value based on importance, with cumulative scores calculated for each product. SearchNetworking.com editors used these scores to determine Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners for the industry’s best networking products.
According to SearchNetworking.com, “ServerIron from Foundry captured high ratings for its server and load balancing capabilities and snagged the Silver in our ADC category. Foundry’s ServerIron family of application delivery and traffic management switches are aimed at business-critical IP, Web and VoIP applications, according to the company. ServerIron provides a total solution for server load balancing, Layer 7 switching, server farm and application security, SSL acceleration, compression, and multi-site redundancy.”
“It is an honor to be named as the Silver winner in the Product Leadership Awards for application delivery controllers; there is a great deal of competition in this segment and being identified as one of the leaders is a sign of our commitment to exceptional quality and high performance,” said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO for Foundry Networks. “The ServerIron family, with its integrated Web firewall capabilities and HTTP compression, provides demanding enterprises and service providers worldwide a scalable and proven solution for maximizing the performance and availability of their application and content delivery infrastructure.”
Foundry’s ServerIron family of application delivery switches is the industry leader in high availability, acceleration, security and scalability for business-critical IP, Web and Voice over IP (VoIP) applications. The ServerIron family provides a total solution for server load balancing, application (Layer 7) switching, server farm and application security, SSL acceleration, compression, and multi-site redundancy. Foundry offers more than eight years of expertise and experience in delivering application solutions to the world’s largest enterprises and service providers.
Friday, January 26th, 2007
Here’s a helpful, but not well published password recovery procedure for Foundry EdgeIron series Layer 2 switches. It differs from the process used on all their other models, probably because the EdgeIron is not of their own design (not sure who actually makes these for Foundry, no matter) This recovery procedure applies to models with part numbers starting in EIF, eg. EIF24G, EIF4802CF, EIF48G, EIF24GS, EIF48GS etc. So, if you have lost the password, and want to clear off the previous configuration and start anew, here it is:
1) establish a connection to the device on the console port
2) power the switch on, while holding down “ctrl-u” to access the system file menu (technically you can just hit “ctrl-u” in the one second time between powering on and it actually loading, but its hard to time it)
3) you have a few seconds to type the password for the file menu, it is… “mercury”; clear off the asteriks that may remain from holding “ctrl-u” down first.
4) select “D” to delete all user defined configurations
5) enter the file name of the file type that is “Config File” and confirm if asked to delete it
6) select “Q” to reload.
At this point it will boot normally, and the username and password for the unit will be at default, “admin” and “admin”. Its back to default now, have fun. I have no idea why Foundry barely documents this process. Even the users manual doesn’t tell you the password to enter the ROM menu (”mercury”), it sais to call tech support to get it.
I hope this helps some folks…..
Brian Stadtmiller, Technical Sales Manager
aim: bstaginc skype: brian.stadtmiller email brians@townsendassets.com tel: 415-626-4231 x230
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
While poking around this morning looking for something interesting to write about, I came across an old article from 2002 about the emerging secondary market for used IT gear. I’ve thought about this market a lot in the past few days, not only because we are vendors in this market, but becasue I have been trying to write a selling guide for independent companies looking to sell used cisco and other brands. This article talks goes into great detail about the history of used IT, and the various players in the industry.
Check it out http://www.cio.com/archive/101502/cheap.html
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
We often get website traffic with users looking in Google for the term “used Cisco router.” While most IT departments have specific hardware requirements to configure into their existing network, I often wonder if those looking for a generic term like mentioned have a specific router in mind when searching as well.
We know that consumers often follow many steps along the way to making a purchasing decision. In the above example, users may be generally looking for sites that offer “used cisco routers,” while having a specific model in mind. Some however, may still be searching for a comparison of various models and pricing in order to further refine their search query. Once they have a better idea of the model(s) they are interested in, they often return to the search engines to input a more specific phrase like “used cisco 7200,” as this implies a more targeted product search.
Once they’ve found a qualifying website, they may browse the various product listings within a product family and narrow their search to an even more specific model. At this point they have a good idea of what exact model they want, and the realtive price range. Savvy shoppers will visit more than one site, and make a decision based on a combination of price, guarantee, and ultimately customer service.
It’s at this point that we at TAG hope to engage the customer in a conversation. For beyond the sale of a single piece of equipment, we look to build an ongoing relationship with every customer inorder to become their single point of contact for any future network hardware needs. So, while most generic searches rarely result in an immediate purchase, over time they often evolve into a lasting realtionship.
Friday, October 13th, 2006
While preparing two proposals for a customer, Los Angeles-based AM6 Networks (a nationwide leader in carrier colocation and IP transport), I discovered an interesting cost-per-port comparison. This customer was looking for a solution for a large number (over 2,000) of Gigabit copper ports for Layer 2 switching. He didn’t care about the manufacturer; just reliability. Since we sit on perhaps the largest Foundry inventory in the world, an obvious consideration was Foundry. The only other viable option was Cisco Systems, since the number of ports needed was exceptionally high, requiring several modular chassis. We like to stick to Cisco and Foundry because, in our experience, they are the two most reliable solutions.
Anyway, after all calculations were done, the Cisco solution came out to $154.45 per copper Gig port while the Foundry solution chimed in at $156.52 per port.
This is a great illustration of the market identically valuing two industry leaders. There is no more accurate gauge of a commodity’s value than a broad secondary market (such as ours), and the fact that the originally less expensive Foundry option has effectively made up some ground speaks for the product’s robustness.
Does this mean that every comparable Foundy and Cisco product are priced the same? No, as fluctuations in supply and demand for each product are very dynamic. But at this time, for this class of product, Cisco and Foundry are very similar.
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Maxim and others regularly post lists of sexy new gadgets ranging from cell phones to video game modules. We thought, hey why don’t we make a list of the sexiest networking hardware from the last few years. If you think we’ve missed a piece of gear, add it to the comments section!
Friday, September 22nd, 2006
Take it from someone with six years of experience in the secondary market for data networking gear; you’d be hard pressed to find a shadier spot beneath an old oak tree.
That’s not to say that trusted resellers don’t abound, just that the business of buying used gear is tricky as ever.
One of the challenges that resellers face every day in their quest to stock equipment at attractive rates is the proliferation of counterfeit and stolen gear. Like most resellers we’ve been burned a time or two. Like when the Department of Homeland Security showed up at our warehouse to repossess a few items, which had apparently been stolen from a military facility, it was a wakeup call that we needed to adopt some strict guidelines as to how we buy.
The following guidelines will ensure that your experience in the used market for data networking gear is a fruitful one.
1) Verify Serial Numbers– For large ticket items, it is advisable to check the item’s serial number with the manufacturers fraud department. This helps to ensure that the unit is not stolen.
2) Never pay cash – Because there’s no paper trail when a transaction is paid for with cash, use other methods of payment such as credit cards, checks, or bank transfers.
3) Always get a detailed receipt – Receipts provide evidence of a payment. In addition to using traceable payment methods, always get supporting documentation for every transaction.
4) Don’t buy high-end equipment from a private citizen. (Always buy from businesses) – While buying from an individual may sometimes be less expensive, it is much more difficult to track a person down if the item is either damaged or stolen.
5) If it looks too good to be true, it is! – Trust your gut. If someone is offering an item for substantially less than the market value, be wary.
A few years ago, I purchased a Cisco module from a guy off Craigslist. Figuring he didn’t understand market value I snatched the card and sold it to my customer for a healthy profit. The customer called me 3 week later for a replacement. The card had failed. Naturally, my supplier was long gone. The bottom line: You get what you pay for. If you’re in the market for used equipment, buy from a trusted source not from the trunk of a car.
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