Where hyperscale hardware goes to retire: Ars visits a big ITAD site

"The biggest risk is data escape." Eric Ingebretsen, chief commercial officer at SK TES, an IT asset disposition provider, tells me this early on during a tour of a 128,000-square-foot facility in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He will restate this a few times. A big part of this site's pitch to its clients, including the "hyperscale" customers with gigantic data centers nearby, is that each device is labeled, tracked, and inventoried for its drives—both obvious and hidden—and is either securely wiped or destroyed. The process, commonly called ITAD, is used by larger businesses, especially when they upgrade fleets of servers or workers' devices. ITAD providers ensure all the old gear is wiped clean, then resold, repurposed, recycled, or destroyed. In keeping with the spirit of client confidentiality, I could not take photos or videos during my visit, record our talks, or capture anything beyond what I could scribble in my notepad. (The images in this post are provided by SK TES and were ... Read full article.