Support Warehouse launches "Keep IT" campaign

In a move bound to infuriate some hardware manufacturers, IT support services reseller Support Warehouse has this week launched a major new environmental campaign to encourage firms to extend their IT upgrade cycles.

The company is recommending that the best way for IT chiefs to reduce their environmental impact, more easily comply with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, and lower their costs is to keep their existing hardware for longer.

Tom Starkie, managing director at Support Warehouse, said the traditional strategy of upgrading hardware every three years had become outdated. "Hardware technology advancements have slowed considerably in recent years, products have become more reliable and manufacturers now offer support for up to five years," he added.

Support Warehouse has launched a web site detailing the benefits of sweating hardware assets for an extra year and plans to contact customers directly. "The easiest way to address the e-waste problem is not to throw as much out and we are pushing the five-year support option," said Starkie.

However, he admitted there was some reluctance among customers to sign up to longer term support deals, despite the fact that more companies are lengthening their upgrade cycles. "A lot more firms do now retain kit for five years, but when they purchase new kit they don’t tend to plan to keep it for that long," said Starkie. "As a result they won’t sign up for five years’ support and instead come back after three years for an extension. It's great for us as we sell more, but it is not cost-effective for the customer."

Starkie accepted the campaign was unlikely to be welcomed by IT manufacturers, whose performance is typically gauged on the number of new units they sell.

Various manufacturers such as HP and Dell have recently bolstered their environmental credentials with free take-back schemes and more energy-efficient systems. But the IT industry has been largely silent on the issue of three-year upgrade cycles, much to the disapproval of environmentalists who point out that the bulk of the carbon emissions associated with IT kit is released during the manufacturing process.

Charities such as Computer Aid International have also advised that if firms do choose to dispose of still working equipment they should donate it to re-use schemes rather than simply recycle it straight away.

However, Nigel Montgomery of analysts AMR Research said that with many newer systems boasting significantly better energy efficiency than previous models, it was too simplistic to paint shorter upgrade cycles as inherently bad for the environment. He also advised that IT chiefs should think carefully before signing up to five-year support contracts.

"Upgrade cycles depend on what your business is trying to do and if a PC isn't fast enough to support the required business task, then it needs to be upgraded," he said. "If you are signing up to a five-year support deal you need to do a full audit of your business plans and be sure you won’t need to upgrade sooner."

He also argued that increasingly savvy IT chiefs were no longer guilty of upgrading every three years without a good business reason. "I don’t think there are many rash upgrade decisions made anymore," he said.