Decommissioning & Restoration
Decommissioning an IT installation is daunting. From disconnecting the electrical and removing all the equipment to testing it, restoring it, and recycling it—there’s a lot to be done. And in all likelihood you don’t do it often enough to have a team dedicated to the practice.
When it’s time for your next decommissioning project, call MDSi. We have several teams of highly skilled engineers dedicated to this and only this. They sweep in like the well-oiled machine they are to take inventory of the facility, carefully disconnect all electrical connections, remove equipment, take racks apart, and ship it all to our closest warehouse. From there they will do triage to figure out what is still useful and what is ready to be recycled. Then another team will do repairs, data wiping, hard drive shredding, and recycling as appropriate to extract maximum value for you.
Our complete portfolio of decommission and restoration services includes:
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On-site equipment decommission
- SOW/MOP creation
- Decommission and equipment removal
- Cable Mining/clean-up
- Transport of equipment for redeployment or disposal
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Asset retirement
- MDSi’s application Acuity provides visibility by serial number
- Ensures our customer’s accounting/finance organization has real-time data for asset retirement processing
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Redeployment of strategic assets
- Equipment is triaged, sorted, and routed to a specific customer location based upon dispositioning rules
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Disposal or resale of non-strategic assets
- Non-strategic assets are identified through scanning automation. Assets with low market value are disposed of in compliance with R2 certification requirements
GR-1275-CORE is a standard created by the Engineering and Installation Technical Advisory Group to ensure that the installation and removal of telecommunications equipment is performed professionally and consistently. It outlines the skills that are required for the four levels of field service and installation technicians, with Level 4 being the highest. A description of the requirement for each level is below. The important takeaway is that all MDSi Field Technicians meet and exceed these standards. Better still—the leaders of our field operations team have been with the company for more than 20 years. There is no problem you can present that they haven’t already seen and solved for someone else.
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Level 1
Basic removal of common systems equipment (equipment/hardware).
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Level 2
Minimum of two years experience. Capable of performing the removal of common systems, removal of wiring and connections on non-active equipment, and lead verification/continuity testing.
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Level 3
Minimum of three years experience. Capable of performing the removal of common systems, removal of wiring and connections, lead verification/continuity testing, analysis of job specifications, MOP preparation, resolving job specification and/or drawing problems, and final quality inspections.
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Level 4
Minimum of six years of experience. Capable of performing the same work activities as Level 3 technician without supervision or direction. These technicians can perform additions, removals, and modifications on working equipment and circuits. Job activities include circuit modifications, software additions or upgrades, power transition work, addition/removal of batteries, etc.
Certified data destruction
We understand that handing IT equipment over for repair or recycling naturally raises questions about the ongoing security of the data stored on those devices.
Rest assured that MDSi is committed to providing an unparalleled level of data security to our customers. To that end, we adhere to 17 different international data erasure standards and will apply the specific standard you prefer (or your government requires) to your project. The standards cover things like which erasure patterns are used to overwrite the data, how many times it is overwritten, and how verification is performed to ensure that all data has been removed from the device.
Once we have completely wiped the data from your devices, we issue a Certificate of Data Destruction to confirm that your devices have been sanitized using industry approved processes, your data was successfully destroyed, and it cannot be recovered by anyone attempting to do so using forensic data recovery tools.
Standard Name | # of Passes | Description |
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Air Force System Security Instruction 5020 | 2 | Originally defined by the United States Air Force, this 2-pass overwrite is completed by verifying the write. |
Aperiodic random overwrite/Random | 1 | This process overwrites data with a random, instead of static, pattern. Each sector of the drive will contain different data. This process is completed by verifying the write. |
Bruce Schneier’s Algorithm | 7 | This 7-step process, presented by security technologist Bruce Schneier, overwrites using 1s, 0s and a stream of random characters. |
BSI-2011-VS | 4 | This 4-pass system is the original BSI standard defined by the German Federal Office of Information Security. |
BSI-GS | 1 | Defined by the German Federal Office for Information Security, this process begins by removing hidden drives (HPA/ DCO if existing) and overwriting with aperiodic random data. The next step triggers a firmware based command dependent on the type of drive. The last step is to verify the write. |
BSI-GSE | 2 | The BSI-GSE adds one extra step to the BSI-GS. After the first overwrite, an additional overwrite with aperiodic random data is added before moving on to the last two steps. |
CESG CPA – Higher Level | 3 | The UK government’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance standard is a 3-pass process with a verification after each step. |
Cryptographic Erasure (Crypto Erase) | N/A | This method uses the native command to call a cryptographic erasure, which erases the encryption key. While the encrypted data remains on the storage device itself, it is effectively impossible to decrypt, rendering the data unrecoverable. Because this method uses the native commands as defined by the manufacturer, it is only available if supported by the drive being erased. |
DoD 5220.22-M ECE | 7 | This method is an extended (7-pass) version of the DoD 5220.22-M. It runs the DoD 5220.22-M twice, with an extra pass (DoD 5220.22-M (C) Standard) sandwiched in between. |
HMG Infosec Standard 5, Higher Standard | 3 | Used by the British Government, this 3-pass overwrite adds one additional write. Like the baseline standard, this process is completed by verifying the write. |
HMG Infosec Standard 5, Lower Standard | 1 | Used by the British Government, this 1-pass overwrite consists of writing a zero and then a random character. This process is completed by verifying the write. |
National Computer Security Center (NCSC-TG-025) | 3 | Defined by the US National Security Agency, this 3-pass system includes a verification after each pass of 0s, 1s and a random character. |
Navy Staff Office Publication (NAVSO P-5239-26) | 3 | Published by the US Navy, this 3-pass system uses a specified character (and its complement) and a random character. The process is completed by verifying the write. |
NIST 800-88 Clear | 1 | The National Institute of Standards and Technology Clear requires the removal of hidden drives (HPA/DCO, if existing). The data is then overwritten and verified. |
NIST 800-88 Purge | 1 | This method requires the removal of hidden drives (HPA/DCO, if existing). A firmware based command is triggered depending on the type of drive, and the last step is the verify the write. |
NSA 130-1 | 3 | Defined by the National Security Agency, this method uses a 3-pass overwrite: writes a random character, writes another random character and writes a known value. This process is completed by verifying the write. |
OPNAVINST 5239.1A | 3 | Defined by the US Navy, this process is completed by verifying the write after a 3-pass overwrite—the first a random byte and static overwrite for the last two. |
Let us take care of your next decommissioning project.