The ITAD Report

A computer from Britain's atomic energy research programme in the 1950's has been restored and is now the oldest running computer in the world.

Refurbishing computers and giving them a second life is always a blessed task. Noone has done it better than Kevin Murrell.

The Harwell Dekatron machine is the oldest working computer in the world, but it is still in daily use as part of an education programme at The National Museum of Computing, some 80 kilometres north of London. Being slightly bigger than today's computers (weighing in at two tonnes), it is a visually impressive piece of equipment. And, of course, it has an entry in the Guinness book of records.

The founder of the museum, Kevin Murrell, found parts of the Harwell Dekatron in Birmingham in 2007. After some detective work he identified the rest of the machine and the museum started piecing the various components together. By 2012, the machine was fully functional again, and is now a centrepiece of the museum.

Running an ITAD business is not only a way of taking environmental responsibility. You're also part of a booming market, with ample opportunities to run a succesful business.

In 2016, the global IT asset disposition market was valued at 11,3 billion USD, according to Zion Market Research. In a new report, the analyst firm predicts that by 2022 the ITAD market will have reached a value of 18,7 billion USD. This is an increase by more than 65 % over a six year period. Several other analyst firms have looked into the matter and presented similar forecasts. From the studies that Inrego have looked at, the compound market growth coming five years will be somewhere between 6,7 and 8,3%.

"In our business, the long-term trend is that companies re-furnish more and recycle less. This is of course good for us and good for environment", says Jonas Karlsson, CEO at Swedish ITAD company Inrego.

The fastest growing market for cellphones is not India, not China, not USA. It's not a geographical region at all. It's the refurbished market.

Analyst firm Counterpoint's recently presented Refurbished Smartphone tracker for 2017 shows that the global market for refurbished smartphones grew 13% during 2017, reaching almost 140 million units. At the same time, the global new smartphone market grew a meagre 3%. That means refurbished smartphones are now close to 10% of the total global smartphone market.

Commenting on the findings, Research Director Peter Richardson noted:

“It’s a surprise to many that the fastest growing smartphone market in 2017 was not India or any other emerging market, but the refurb market. With refurb smartphones in play we think the market for new devices will slow further in 2018.”

According to Counterpoint, the low growth of the global new smartphone market can be attributed, at least partially, to the growth of the refurb market. The slowdown in innovation has made two-year-old flagship smartphones comparable in design and features with the most recent mid-range phones. Therefore, the mid low-end market for new smartphones is being cannibalized by refurbished high-end phones, mostly Apple iPhones and, to a lesser extent, Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

Still, the refurbished market has a huge potential for continued growth since only 25 % of all pre-owned phones are sold back into the market, and only a part of these are refurbished.

“This is a burgeoning market allowing various stakeholders to maximize the life-time value of a mobile device. For many in the industry, the profit margin on a used device exceeds that of a new device. It is also positive from the perspective of maximizing the use of valuable resources.", Mr. Richardson added.