There was a time when I would never buy a used car. I thought it meant inheriting someone else’s problems and assumed that if the person who unloaded the car didn’t want it, why should I? Then I realized how naive that thinking was. People get rid of things for a variety of reasons whether it be a car or furniture or a pet or even, yes, networking hardware. You knew I’d come around to this eventually, right?

Sometimes companies just need to downsize. Sometimes, they need to upgrade. Sometimes they decide the system they have, or the company that manufactures it, isn’t the right choice and they go a different route entirely.  Sometimes, the manufacturer simply stops producing the component you need and even though they want you to upgrade by buying more equipment, you realize you don’t need the features of the new and are happy with the old. In all of those scenarios, buying pre-owned networking hardware makes sound financial sense.

So how do you ensure that you’re not buying a lemon? Well, like anything used, seeking out a reliable seller is important. Companies like MULTI-LINK that have been in business for years are a good bet. You also want to find one that retests and certifies equipment before they resell it to you since you probably can’t do that for yourself. Think “certified pre-owned” when it comes to cars. Cars sold to dealerships are tested by their mechanics and refurbished before being put back out on the lot to sell. If a company offers a one year warranty, you can be pretty sure they are confident the component works and works well. Also, find a company that allows you to call them. Yes, old-fashioned I know, but when something goes wrong, it’s better to pick up the phone and speak to a live person with answers than to send an email off into cyberspace and have no idea if they receive it or not.

My take? The right pre-owned anything can solve a problem and keep money in your pocket. The wrong one, well, let’s just say that if you do your homework and deal with reputable companies, you’re better off.

Transceivers can really add up. One way to save money in your overall hardware budget is to buy third party transceivers. Some people are apprehensive about going this route. What if the transceiver doesn’t work with my Cisco or Juniper equipment? What if it only works for a few months?  What if it comes from an unreliable source (like ebay)?

A company like MULTI-LINK that sells third party transceivers will:

• guarantee that the OEM transceiver you purchase through them will have the proper Cisco-compatible  (or Juniper-compatible, or Brocade-compatible, you get the idea…) code and will work with even the most complex networking equipment
• cover the transceiver under a lifetime warranty (most manufacturers won’t even cover this long)
• do the legwork and make sure the source they get the transceiver from is reliable

In addition, you’ll save a great deal of money compared to buying the original.

If lead time has been an issue in the past, third party transceivers tend to be more available on the secondary market and can reduce lead time on hard to find, extremely niche components.

Last, and most important, your transceiver will be new!  You’d still pay more for a used Juniper or Cisco transceiver and still not be protected by a lifetime warranty.  It also may not be uniform.  So maybe it’s time to change your thinking about transceivers and go OEM. Really, isn’t saving money and getting better  protection a good thing?

Here are five tips that you may or may not be aware of, but that will certainly save you money:

1. Consider purchasing refurbished equipment instead of brand new from the manufacturer.  Often, buying used hardware from an alternative supplier like MULTI-LINK Communications Products will save you up to 90% off the manufacturer’s list price and won’t negate your service agreement with the manufacturer. In many cases (and manufacturers don’t want you to know this), they simply won’t repair any component that wasn’t purchased through them.  But that’s okay. If you purchase used equipment from a legitimate company, it will come with a warranty (yes, even used hardware is guaranteed) and if the tech refuses to repair it, simply call up the company you bought it from and tell them you want a new one.  For items like cables, power supplies,  rack mounts, and accessories there’s really no reason at all to pay premium prices on new. If you must have new, many of these companies offer new surplus (never out of the box) components in addition to refurbished models.

2. Sell your old equipment to a third party supplier before purchasing new.  Many offer trade in credit or cash for pre-owned components and this can knock a pretty penny off the price of new hardware.

3. Don’t upgrade until you know you need to.  Upgrading too soon or because you anticipate growth that you never achieve leads some business owners into purchasing systems with features they’ll never use. Do your research and see if you really need that feature before you pay for it.

4. Security saves you money.  There’s nothing more cost-effective than an advanced security feature set.  Ask someone whose system has been compromised and critical data lost — they’ll attest to the importance. No truer words have been said than, “Better safe than sorry.”

5. Educate yourself on the basics of what you’re buying.  You don’t have to become an IT tech to do this, but don’t simply rely on what a rep at the company that’s trying to sell you equipment says. Check around and make sure people in the know agree that you really do need what a company is trying to sell you.

It happens. You purchase a piece of networking equipment, say for example, the Cisco 7300-6E3 line card. Then Cisco discontinues it. That’s fine. Your network is functioning beautifully. But time passes and pretty soon, you find that your line card– or some other component– is about to be added to the list of items Cisco no longer supports. What do you do? Is it time to upgrade before support disappears completely? Or if everything seems to be fine, do you ride it out?

There’s no real reason to stress. It’s economical for Cisco to stop supporting and carrying obsolete components, but they also do it to encourage customers to spend the money to upgrade. Now don’t get me wrong. Upgrades are usually good.  The new products Cisco offers typically have the latest and greatest technology and their addition will expand your network’s capabilities. But what if you’re happy with what you have?

You don’t have to change! If a component fails after Cisco no longer supports it, you can decide at that point to upgrade, or you can simply replace the obsolete part by going to an alternative Cisco provider like MULTI-LINK Communications Products. Companies like MLCP carry new surplus and refurbished components– even hard to find and obsolete ones– for their customers.  Purchasing a product from them won’t negate your service contract with Cisco either! The Cisco tech simply won’t service or replace that part should something go wrong, but they weren’t going to do that anyway because the service date has expired. The good news is, if that happens, you won’t be left high and dry. The company that provided the part will send you a replacement if the product fails within the warranty period. For MLCP, the standard warranty is one year (this is actually longer than Cisco warrants many of its brand new components). So you’re pretty much covered.

So before you panic and spend thousands of dollars upgrading because your network is down, make a simple phone call to MLCP or some other reputable alternative Cisco provider and see what it will cost to simply replace what you have currently. There’s no need to upgrade if you don’t need the new and improved features of the component Cisco suggests you migrate to.

As we wrap up the end of 2010, I thought it would be useful to announce what the best deal of the month is at MLCP. Not that it’s really that difficult to click through MLCP’s specials page and see what’s discounted, but why not save some time and head right to the product that’s this month’s best buy? Perhaps I’ve been inspired by all the holiday shopping I’ve been doing and love how the stores lead you right to their best deals.

So this month, the best deal is the Cisco WS-C3550-48-SMI switch. Offered (at the time of this post) for only $375– which is 92% off the list price– you won’t find this switch for this price anywhere else. But beware… you have to act fast because this deal won’t be available for long!

The Cisco WS-C3550-48-SMI, or Cisco Catalyst 3550 48 SMI, delivers intelligent services in this 1 rack unit (RU) stackable, multilayer switch utilizing 48 10/100 ports and 2 GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports, Enhanced Standard Multilayer Software Image, and Standard Multilayer Software Image. Ideal for access and distribution layer connectivity, the WS-C3550-48-SMI is upgradeable to full dynamic IP routing. As a member of the Catalyst 3550 Series Intelligent Ethernet Switches, the Cisco Catalyst WS-C3550-48-SMI provides high availability, security and QoS to enhance the operation of the network.

We carry Cisco Catalyst Switches from the 1900 to the 8500 as well as ME Ethernet switches like the ME 3400 all the way through the ME 6500. Designed to cost-effectively extend the most advanced Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), quality of service (QoS), multicast, and IPv6 features into Ethernet access and aggregation networks, Cisco’s ME 6500 Ethernet series switches are next-generation, fixed-configuration switches.