“Imagine if someone offered you a state-of-the-art Cisco router still in its original box for 50 percent less than Cisco’s deepest discounted price.

“What’s the catch? Well it’s not stolen. And its not some franken-router cobbled together in the back of a garage. In fact it comes with a warranty and it’s backed by service and support from Cisco-certified staff. The only catch is that the router isn’t sold by Cisco or one of its approved resellers.

“The market for used networking gear has grown gradually over the years to become a nearly two-billion-dollar-a-year business, according to estimates from IT consultancy Gartner Group.

“‘We’re not seeing a concerted effort by larger corporations to go out and embrace the used equipment market,’ said Lawrence Orans, principal analyst with Gartner. ‘But if the stars line up and the inventory is there, many midsize businesses are getting what they need at a lower price from used equipment dealers.’”