How long should your organization keep your IT hardware before replacing it? An IT refresh policy is beneficial for organizations that wish to run optimally. We will share some of the best practices to replace your IT hardware with some helpful tips.
If you are the IT manager or office manager of your organization, a good practice to have is to ensure that all IT hardware is adequately supported and under warranty. There are a few tiers of warranty and support which usually comes with hardware:
Tier 1: Hardware warranty; Pretty self-explanatory. You would have to bring your hardware to a service centre, and they will fix any issue covered under the warranty agreement.
Tier 2: 24 X 7 remote support; This warranty comes with a hotline or chat line you can call. While most warranties these days come with a certain level of assistance remotely, you would typically have to pay a little extra for support that would remote into your system and assist you. These are more useful for cloud-based software solutions than hardware. Some products come with this as part of their warranty support.
Tier 3: NBD or Next Business Day support; The most expensive of all the warranty support, a technician from the hardware manufacturer will come down to your location to assist and even repair the hardware on-site.
Lifespan of a hard disk is typically three to five years on average
Normally replaced when there is an amber led or warning notification, not sooner.
Immediately hard swapped when red led shows on the hard disk enclosure
Lifespan of a server is typically five years and no longer
Normally replaced once warranty and NBD support expires
Due to the nature of servers running constantly, components are degraded over time.
Lifespan of backup power or UPS is no longer than three years.
Continuous use of battery in a server environment, battery constantly degrades.
Liquid batteries last much longer than lead-acid batteries. High-end liquid battery backup power systems are costly but last up to ten years.
Lifespan of three to five years
Access Points are exposed to climate, even indoors. Humidity and excessive dryness harms the components inside.
Access points or APs which are operational twenty-four seven, should be replaced after three years.
Lifespan of three to five years
Same applies to network controllers.
Longest lasting hardware in a server environment.
Normally replaced at EOL or when warranty and support expires.
Lifespan of three to five years
Batteries are the first components to degrade
Normally replaced after warranty expires
Lifespan of five to eight years
Tower desktops are easily modified and upgraded without having to buy a new system
Normally replaced after warranty expiration
