While a decommissioned computer is no longer linked up to a production network, this does not imply that it is no longer an asset that needs to be protected. While in the course of moving out of a data center facility, the equipment might have to move into temporary staging prior to transport. If the staging process is not properly managed, the process of secure data center asset disposal can become more difficult to control.

The process of temporary staging becomes particularly complex since it takes place between two definite locations. Although the equipment has been moved off the data center floor, it may not yet have been taken to its next destination. In the meantime, there must still be information about what equipment it is, where it is, who has access to it and what should be done with it.

This risk is elevated when a lot of equipment is removed all at once. It does not take long before the staging area becomes full of servers, hard drives, networking equipment, and other electronic gadgets. This risk is especially high if there is no clear identification and inventory updates when moving equipment around.

This is just one of the issues. Other concerns include both financial and operational risks. Valuable pieces of equipment could sit idle while their market value decreases and equipment that has to be destroyed would sit in the wrong place longer than expected. There will also be extra work to reconcile the equipment that was supposed to move on to the next stage of disposal process.

A much more effective way is to treat staging as a formal step of the life cycle of assets. Assign responsibility for the area, control access to it, make sure there is asset identification and move the equipment properly. Every piece of asset must have a clear destination point.

This also helps ensure that different departments remain visible. The security department can concentrate on controlled access and devices that carry data. The IT department can reconcile the devices with inventory, while the finance department can recognize devices that have some residual value. The facilities management department can observe whether there is any congestion at the staging area.

For organizations looking for secure data center asset disposition, the temporary storage must not be seen as a place for storing retired devices, but as a controlled transition point.