Alta Technologies Review

Last Updated on September 8, 2025 by Ewen Finser

As someone who’s spent 15+ years tinkering with network setups from home media servers to mega-enterprise environments for Fortune 500 companies, I can safely say I’ve witnessed the evolution of refurbished networking equipment firsthand.

I’ll admit, when Alta Technologies first popped up in my feed, I treated it with healthy skepticism given the number of companies I’ve seen promising “enterprise-grade quality at unbeatable prices.”

Still, I decided its service deserved a fair hearing, so I wanted to carry out an in-depth review of its site services, business practices, and market position.

What Stood Out for Me

Like I said, the world of refurbished IT equipment suppliers is actually pretty crowded these days, so when I first started researching Alta Technologies I wasn’t expecting to be particularly amazed.

However, I was completely thrown when I first visited the site by the sheer scale of the operation: over 1.3 million products in stock. This doesn’t even come close to similar providers I’d seen in the past.

This isn’t just impressive from a numbers standpoint. I know from experience that if you’re a network administrator dealing with a critical infrastructure project you don’t want to have to shop around. It’s far better to have one platform with all the inventory you need. 

Another point in Alta Technologies’ favor was their response time philosophy. Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, the main site promises to get back to you in minutes and (most importantly) lists an email address if you don’t hear anything in good time.

I can’t emphasize strongly enough how rare I’ve found this when dealing with vendors over the years. As this level of customer service is so rare, I decided to ask for a quote myself to put it to the test (see below).

Alta Technologies also has a very solid track record. The company’s been in the IT resale business since 1995. In other words, over the past three decades they’ve gone from selling Token Ring Hubs and other now-vintage equipment to bleeding edge tech. 

Having worked for some of the bigger players, I know that kind of stability and longevity is exactly what enterprises need when selecting critical infrastructure partners.

The Market Context

Before delving further into all Alta Technologies has to offer I wanted to touch briefly on its business model.

For most people, the fact that it’s been reselling IT equipment for 30 years now should prove that it’s doing something right. But still, refurbished networking apparatus has gained massive traction amongst enterprise IT pros in recent years.

The numbers speak for themselves. By 2034, the market’s projected to be worth $35.2 billion – up from $14.6 billion in 2024. North America the refurbished enterprise networking equipment market with a 36.7% share, generating around $5.3 billion in revenue.

These colossal amounts make sense when you consider how much enterprises can reduce costs by using refurbished equipment. For example, buying refurbished Cisco equipment can save up to 70% relative to purchasing direct from the manufacturer. 

As Alta Technologies points out, this secondary market can also sidestep supply chain shortages caused by events like the COVID pandemic.

Over the years, I’ve also noticed that companies are placing more emphasis on reducing e-waste. Using refurbished equipment is an excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint, though the rate at which you do this will depend on a whole range of other factors too.

In brief, tapping into the secondary market for IT/networking equipment through companies like Alta Technologies is cheaper, greener, and more efficient.

Website Experience and Digital Presence

Alta Technologies’ main domain (www.altatechnologies.com) immediately struck me with its professional design,

I’ve found there’s a growing tendency these days amongst IT retailers to try to overwhelm site visitors with jarring graphics or even annoying pop-ups from AI assistants. Not so with Alta Technologies.

The interface is elegant and simple, wherein the main page simply lists the company’s speciality, and its flagship offerings like ITAD services, data sanitization, purchasing unwanted IT equipment, and its impressive 1.3 million-item inventory.

I decided to delve a little further and put the site search feature to the test. The search bar pops up cleanly, and the UI even offers main categories like “Refurbished Dell Servers”.

I inputted the term “network switch” into the search bar and the site almost immediately listed all six models currently in stock along with the price.

Clicking into one of these showed that the clean, informative interface also carries into product listings. The cost (minus shipping) is clearly stated, as is the number of items left in stock.

The listing itself also displays detailed product information such as the specific part number and any tests run. I particularly liked how it explores use cases for products. 

For instance, in the case of the ‘Dell 0M023F PowerConnect 5424 24-Port Network Switch’ I clicked into, the listing correctly stated that it was ideal for SMBs. 

However, it’s clear that the description has been given a slight marketing makeover. For example, the switch is described as offering ‘superior data throughput’. While its switching rate and forwarding capacity were good for the time when it came out 10+ years ago, it can’t compare to modern multi-gigabit or Layer 3+ switches.

Still, the overall level of technical detail is excellent and I appreciated the summary of key features, which would definitely help out an overworked network administrator trying to sift through the various brands available, like Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Dell, HPE, Aruba, Extreme, NVIDIA, Mellanox, and F5. This is exactly what enterprise-level customers need.

My Quote Experience: Requesting an Arista DCS-7160-48TC6-R

As impressed as I was with Alta Technologies’ website, I wanted to put the employees’ customer service skills and technical expertise to the test.

The site clearly says that if you don’t see what you need, or if a product is out of stock, then you can contact Alta Technologies to request a quote.

I decided to push the envelope a little on this one by requesting an Arista DCS-7160-48TC6-R. 

This is a very high-performance, specialized piece of networking equipment you wouldn’t see in your usual enterprise environment. It has special features like 48 x 10GbE RJ45 copper ports plus 6 x 100GbE QSFP uplinks,

I contacted Alta Technologies via the special online form with a plausible scenario, saying that my firm needed to upgrade its infrastructure, as our current 1Gbps switches were bottlenecking both virtualization environments and large file transfers between development and staging servers.

Of course, this scenario is entirely imaginary, but I wanted to see if Alta Technologies staff had knowledge of specialist equipment like this, to either source it or recommend a suitable replacement.

This was particularly tricky, as options like the Dell PowerConnect 5424 cited above wouldn’t be suitable in this situation, as it only has 1GbE ports and a limited buffer. This made such generic switches a poor fit for high-bandwidth, low-latency use cases like those I’d described, so I wanted to see if Alta Technologies could see the difference.

I submitted my request around 5PM and received a prompt response the following morning. While Alta Technologies said it didn’t have that specific network switch in stock, it discussed two products in its inventory that would be suitable alternatives in this scenario. The representative also detailed the intensive testing process, and how quickly products are shipped. 

I’d already had an inkling of the company’s rapid shipping times based on the overwhelming positive feedback on its eBay storefront. Anyone who cares to visit as I did will see there was only one unhappy customer in the past year, and that was due to an incorrect item arriving. The buyer was immediately refunded, and wasn’t required to return the product shipped to them in error. A solid example of excellent customer service.

Tech Support and Refunds

As I was supposedly selling to, not buying from Alta Technologies I didn’t avail of their online guidance when it came to purchasing products.

However, I was suitably impressed that contact information (email and phone numbers) is displayed prominently on the main page. In the case of product listings, the names of various specialists such as the Dell product manager are listed, along with their work email and phone too.

If you’re still unhappy with a product for any reason, the refund policy states that you have 30 days after purchase to request a return or replacement.

This process is quite simple, as the page lists an email address you can contact to receive a return shipping label. However, the policy does say that the product must have failed in some way, so presumably you can’t return something, say, because you discover it’s incompatible with your current infrastructure.

Alta Technologies also sells some products “as is” or “no returns”, which aren’t eligible for refunds. However, from browsing product listings these are all clearly labeled.

Quality Standards and Product Testing

Reviewing the refund policy led me to think about one of the main drawbacks of buying refurbished equipment: how can you be sure it’ll work reliably?

This is where your retailer’s quality assurance processes can provide some peace of mind. From going over different products on the Alta Technologies Site, I saw that products go through an extensive testing process. These include initial tests on arrival, field tests, and final evaluations before shipping.

There’s also a final ‘QA’ station that checks orders before they go out, though of course they make the occasional human error as seen with the lone incident (1 in 340) on the retailers eBay store.

Alta Technologies is R2v3, ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 audited and certified. This means the company’s qualified to engage in ITAD (IT Asset Disposition), managing a full chain of custody and disposal of equipment as necessary. 

Sourcing products in this way from places like decommissioned data centers also increases the chance that the products you see on Alta Technologies site are more reliable. Such environments are usually climate-controlled with equipment handled by trained professionals, meaning it’s much less likely to have been subjected to temperature fluctuations and/or improper handling. 

Value Proposition and Competitive Advantages

As I stated earlier, using refurbished networking equipment can save companies some serious money. Cisco appliances, in particular, can go for as little as 10% of their MSRP on the secondary market.

Still, when it comes to choosing a supplier for such equipment you can’t always be enticed by the upfront cost.

If you’re in an enterprise environment and running critical projects, you also need to consider product availability. For example, if one supplier tells you there’s going to be a two to six week lead time for shipping vital network equipment and another says it can send it out the same day, I don’t have to explain which represents better value in terms of lost productivity.

When things do go wrong, you also need the assurance of a comprehensive product warranty so that faulty equipment can be quickly repaired or replaced.

I wanted to share my reasoning with readers, as these are criteria I had foremost in my mind when evaluating Alta Technologies.

For example, Alta Technologies currently has four Dell PEM620 M620 Blade Servers in stock for $87.99 each, excluding shipping. From examining other competing platforms in the refurbished IT equipment space, the lowest offering I could find was just under $207, representing a significant saving (at least for this product).

Most of the products I discovered in Alta Technologies’ inventory offered same day shipping, though I noted this isn’t always the case for its competitors.

As the listing noted, all Alta Technologies products come with at least a 90-day warranty. I wasn’t sure how this squared with the refund policy, which seemingly gives buyers 30 days to flag issues with a product, so I encourage you to do your own research.

Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility

Simply using refurbished IT equipment instead of buying it off the shelf can hugely boost your company’s green credentials.

Still, Alta Technologies has taken this a step further with its R2v3 certification. This means the company has particularly stringent environmental standards when disposing of IT assets. 

Having worked at a company that went through it, I know the R2v3 isn’t just a rubber stamp exercise. In fact, the evaluation and certification process is quite rigorous and can take over a year. It’s also not just about responsible e-waste management, as companies also have to adhere to principles like data security and accountability.

Given that global e-waste is projected to reach 74 million metric tons by 2030, it’s gratifying that Alta Technologies is playing its part in minimizing its environmental impact.

Alta Technologies: The Bottom Line

After carefully considering categories like environmental responsibility, value for money, technical knowledge, and customer service, I can safely say that Alta Technologies is an outstanding choice.

Any organization that wants reliable, good value, green networking solutions will benefit from its extensive inventory, high quality standards, and effective waste management.

In particular, the triple-testing procedures for all incoming and outgoing products offers buyers peace of mind that all equipment will function at least as well as brand new products. 

I was also extremely impressed by how quickly Alta Technologies’ representatives caught on to the scenario I posed requesting a relatively rare networking switch. Their questions and understanding showed their networking knowledge was very strong, and the alternative products they suggested would have been perfect under the circumstances. 

When things do go wrong, it seems the company is also willing to step up to the plate. Although some products are sold ‘as is’, many have 90-day warranties, and the refund policy is clearly explained. The platform also has overwhelmingly positive feedback online, e.g., from the Better Business Bureau (A+), and 99.7% positive feedback on eBay. 

Overall, if your company is currently evaluating its network equipment procurement strategies, Alta Technologies is worthy of serious consideration.