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Retire a data centre without losing track of a single asset
Decommissioning a data centre means taking live hardware out of service — for a cloud migration, a refresh, a merger or a site closure — while your data moves somewhere new. The hard part is not the lifting. It is proving, afterwards, what happened to every drive that left the building.
Quantum handles the whole job in-house. The same company that surveys your site de-racks the equipment, destroys the data, transports it, audits it on arrival and either remarkets or recycles it. That means one chain of custody and one point of accountability rather than a general contractor, a shredding vendor and a recycler each holding a different piece of the record.
Quantum holds the certifications your auditors check
Not all certificates are applicable to every location.
How a Quantum decommission runs
One unbroken chain of custody, from the live rack to final disposition. Blue marks handling while the asset is in custody; green marks its disposition.
- Prepare
Plan and audit
A site survey and a full asset inventory come first, then a written decommission plan built around your migration or refresh window. Nothing is unplugged until both sides agree what is leaving and when.
- Remove
Disconnect and de-rack
Trained technicians power down, label, disconnect cabling and de-rack servers, storage, network gear, PDUs and UPS units. Work can run outside business hours, and a representative from your organization can stay on site to confirm what is removed.
- Sanitize
Secure data destruction
Every data-bearing device is tracked by serial number and sanitized by the method its sensitivity calls for: NIST 800-88 software erasure or physical shredding. Destruction can be performed on your premises, witnessed, so media never leaves the building intact.
- In transit
Pack and transport
Equipment is sealed, serialized and moved in GPS-tracked, insured transport under a documented chain of custody. Drives can be lockboxed at the point of collection.
- Receive
Receiving audit and valuation
Everything is audited asset by asset on arrival and valued for resale, so the report you receive reconciles against the inventory taken at your site rather than against a weight ticket.
- Retire
Reuse, recycling and reporting
Working equipment is refurbished and remarketed to offset the cost of the project. Everything else is recycled to a zero-landfill standard. You receive a Certificate of Data Destruction, a Certificate of Recycling and an ESG report covering the greenhouse gas reductions achieved.
What we take out
A decommission rarely stops at the servers. These all leave under the same record.
- Servers & blades
- Racks & enclosures
- Storage arrays & SANs
- Switches & routers
- Firewalls & appliances
- UPS systems
- PDUs & power gear
- Structured cabling
- Hard drives & SSDs
- Tape & backup media
- KVM & console gear
- Batteries
- Network cabinets
- Cooling units
- Cables & accessories
Where your hardware ends up
Nothing is landfilled. Every asset follows the highest-value path it qualifies for.
Reuse & remarketing
Working servers and components are data-sanitized, refurbished and resold, and what they recover is credited back against the project.
Recycling
End-of-life equipment is processed to R2 and zero-landfill standards so the raw materials re-enter the supply chain.
Parts harvesting
Usable drives, memory and modules are harvested for the repair and refurbishment market rather than shredded whole.
Data centre decommissioning FAQ
What is data centre decommissioning?
It is the removal of hardware from a data centre for relocation, resale, recycling or disposal while the workloads it carried move elsewhere. In practice that means disconnecting and de-racking the equipment, destroying the data held on it, and then reusing, remarketing or recycling every asset under a documented chain of custody.
How do you keep our data secure during the project?
Every data-bearing device is tracked at the serial-number level and sanitized by the method that fits its sensitivity — software erasure to NIST 800-88 or physical shredding. Drives can be lockboxed on collection, destruction can be performed on your premises so media never leaves un-sanitized, and our technicians are background-checked.
Do you provide a Certificate of Data Destruction?
Yes. Every engagement includes a Certificate of Data Destruction listing the company name, the destruction date and the serial numbers of the drives destroyed, with make and capacity added where your compliance programme requires it. End-of-life material is covered by a separate Certificate of Recycling.
Can we witness the destruction, or schedule work after hours?
Both. If your policy requires witnessed destruction we perform it on your premises so your team can observe. De-installation can also be scheduled outside normal business hours, with one of your representatives on site to confirm which components are removed.
Can you decommission several sites across Canada?
Yes. Multi-site decommissions run under a single project plan and a single point of accountability, whether that is one server room or dozens of racks in several cities.
Can we recover value from the equipment?
Often. Viable servers, processors, memory, storage and network gear are refurbished and remarketed across several channels to offset the cost of the decommission, and the settlement reporting shows what each asset recovered.
What certifications does Quantum hold?
Quantum is certified to R2 v3 and NAID AAA, is an EPRA-approved processor, and is NSF-ISR registered to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Every step of the decommission is handled in-house rather than subcontracted. The full list is on our Certifications page.
Talk to the team that will do the work
Tell us what is in the room. You get back a plan, a schedule and a valuation — not a brochure.