From DTC Computer Supplies to DES TECHNOLOGIES: More Than a Name Change
If you’ve been in the BrokerBin community for a while, there’s a good chance you know DTC Computer Supplies. We’ve been in business for more than 60 years, and for many of those years we have been known for buying and selling data tape and other storage products.
A lot has changed over the last few years.
DTC Computer Supplies is now DES TECHNOLOGIES, and the name change reflects how much our business has expanded. Tape is still a big part of what we do, but today we are buying, selling, testing and processing a much wider range of used IT equipment. We’ve also become R2v3 certified, added new data sanitization and testing capabilities, and developed programs specifically for working with dealers, ITAD companies, recyclers and other R2 facilities.
More Than Just Tape
Over the last several years, we’ve continued to expand our used equipment business.
Servers and storage
CPUs and GPUs; SSDs and HDDs
DDR4 and DDR5 server memory
Networking equipment
Laptops and Tablets
PCs and Minis
LTO and IBM 3592 tape media
Tape drives and libraries
We’re excited to see business growing by more than 25% this year over last year, and much of that growth has come from expanding relationships with dealers, ITAD companies, and recyclers.
We know many BrokerBin members already have their own ITAD programs, end-user customers and downstream partners. We’re not looking to replace those relationships. We want to be another outlet when you have equipment that doesn't fit your normal sales channels or when we can help you recover more value from a project. We are also becoming a reliable supply for companies who need these products for the refurbished equipment businesses.
Becoming R2v3 Certified
Becoming R2v3 certified, along with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, was an important step for us. It also changed the way we work with other companies in our industry. For other R2 and ITAD companies, DES TECHNOLOGIES now serves as a certified downstream partner for equipment that may not fit your normal process or resale channels. We provide the required testing, data sanitization, tracking and documentation while looking for opportunities to reuse equipment whenever possible.
That last part is important to us.
If a piece of equipment can be securely wiped, tested and put back into service, we believe that option should be considered before it is destroyed or recycled.
Which brings us back to something we know very well—data tape.
Why Not Tape?
This is a question we’ve been asking a lot lately. Millions of used HDDs and SSDs are wiped, tested, refurbished and resold every year. Why aren't we doing the same thing with more data tapes?
We continue to see hundreds of thousands of perfectly usable LTO and IBM 3592 media being shredded simply because that has become the standard way of handling end-of-life tape. There are certainly situations where physical destruction is required. But it shouldn't automatically be the only option.
That’s the idea behind our Why Not Tape? program.
When the media has resale value and the project allows it, we purchase qualifying LTO and IBM 3592 tapes, securely sanitize them, and put that media back into the market. Instead of paying to destroy an asset, you and your customers may actually be able to recover value from it.
We Bring the Process Onsite
One of the biggest concerns with any data-bearing asset is what happens before it leaves the customer's facility.
For tape projects, we now have portable scanning and data wipe equipment that can be shipped directly to your location as well as your customer’s location. Tapes can be scanned, identified, serialized, tracked and securely wiped onsite before leaving the facility. We are able to quickly and easily track tapes by serial numbers (not just the Volser paper barcode label). This gives our ITAD and R2 partners another option to take back to their customers, especially when dealing with large tape libraries or thousands of cartridges that otherwise would have been scheduled for shredding.
The conversation doesn't always have to be, “How do we destroy these tapes?” It can also be, “Can we securely wipe them and recover some value instead?”
Phoenix Certified™ and ZeroTrace™
We’ve also developed two processes to support the way we handle reuse and data-bearing equipment.
Phoenix Certified™ is our process for chain of custody, serialized tracking, sanitization, testing and reuse. The idea behind Phoenix is straightforward: If an asset can be securely processed and reused, let's find that opportunity before automatically destroying it.
ZeroTrace™ supports the data sanitization side of the process by providing the tracking and documentation needed to show what was processed and how it was handled.
These programs aren't just for our direct customers. They can also give our dealer and ITAD partners additional options they can bring to their own customers.
We're Doing the Same with HDDs, SSDs and Memory
The same reuse-first approach goes beyond tape. DES TECHNOLOGIES fully tests and securely wipes HDDs and SSDs for resale and reuse. We also have the equipment to test DDR4 and DDR5 server memory, which gives us another outlet for memory coming out of server upgrades, data center refreshes and decommissioning projects.
For us, it comes down to something simple:
If it has value, let's find the value. If it contains data, let's securely remove the data. If it can be reused, let's reuse it. And when it truly has reached the end of its useful life, it can be responsibly recycled.
What's Next for DES TECHNOLOGIES?
The change from DTC Computer Supplies to DES TECHNOLOGIES wasn't just about changing our name or putting a new logo on the building.
Our business has changed. We're still buying tape. We're still selling tape. And we're still interested in those oddball storage products and equipment that many of you have been calling us about for years. But we're buying a lot more than tape today.
We're also R2v3 certified, we're processing more equipment, we're doing more testing and data sanitization, and we're working with more dealers, ITAD companies and R2 recyclers as a downstream partner.
So, if something comes across your desk that doesn't fit your normal resale channels, give us a call. And if your customer has a few thousand LTO or IBM 3592 tapes (or a few hundred) they're getting ready to shred, ask one more question before they fire up the shredder: Why Not Tape?
DES TECHNOLOGIES
R2v3 Certified | IT Asset Recovery | Data Sanitization | Testing | Reuse
Phoenix Certified™ | ZeroTrace™
We Buy Used IT Equipment. We Buy Used Tape.
