IBM switching equipment

[rfd298]

I picked up a load of IBM Enterprise ATM Switching and Routing equipment at an auction. I'm torn. It is old but top quality equipment. It is packed with lots of ICs, gold pins on the backplanes and there are even some ceramic chips sandwiched between multiple circuit cards. I imagine I'll pull at least what I paid for the lot between pm and scrap metal, I estimated everything weighs between 800-900 pounds. I don't mind getting every last chip, pin, fingers or cap. I have a lot of down time. I don't know if I should process all of this or try and sell it to a firm that could still use it. Here's a couple of pictures. Just curious as to everyones input.

 

[glorycloud]

Everything in the IBM world seems to have resale value. I've been at
it for over 25 years. All cards and units have a seven digit part number.
Try googling or ebaying some of the part numbers and see if there might
be resale value greater than the scrap value of what you have. The hard part
for you will be whether you sell what you have "as-is, untested" or try and
have it at least power on self tested.

PM me a list if you want to and I will see if I can do some scouting for you on some
of the dealer websites that I use for buying and selling.

 

[silversaddle1]

The last time we got any of the IBM enterprise stuff in, I could not find anybody interested in any of it. Your stuff may be newer and have some value yet on the resale market, but I doubt it. The good thing is they are loaded with boards, backplanes, etc!

 

[Chumbawamba]

Surplus IT equipment is a real crapshoot these days. The pace of new development and technology increases as time goes on, so stuff as new as the late 1990s or even early 2000s has no viable re-sale value, whereas before you might still be able to get good re-sale value for stuff ten years older or more.

As glorycloud suggested, put the part numbers into Goolge and eBay and see what comes up. With eBay, make sure you check "Completed listings only" so you see what actually SOLD, not the prices being asked by wishful thinkers and dreamers. Once in a while you find something worth going through the trouble of re-sale, but only if you're willing/able to test it, or else take a much reduced price on an "as-is" sale.

Older switching equipment sometimes has good gold on the PCBs and edge connectors, but I'm finding less and less these days. The best I ever found was a Bay Networks ATM switch/router that had several boards, each of which had huge swaths of 1"+ wide gold planes. I'm going to have fun processing those. I wish I remembered which model it was so I could recommend what to look for out in the wild, but I tore it apartt and discarded the cabinet before I thought of it.

These days, if I can't easily sell something that comes through my electronic recycling business, I simply see it as a pile of raw materials to mine for its value at pennies by the pound. Otherwise you end up accumulating too much crap and then you run out of space in your warehouse (a constant problem with me).