I'd just like to pitch in and say that a healthy used NetApp market would be a fine thing indeed for those of us who would like to buy the equipment but can't normally afford it. If the software licenses transferred, NetApp would still have made their main money from the original sale.

Support, however, *should* be a different ball-game, and people shouldn't be able to just transfer the client-NetApp relationship with the hardware automatically and purchasers of 2nd-hand hardware shouldn't expect to get support from NetApp without paying for it.

NetApp could, of course, offer support tiers, allowing for software updates separate from hardware RMA, separate from SE on-site attendance. This would allow the budget-limited and the 2nd-hand market to benefit and grow, while not missing out on the support bucks that people would be willing to spend with them.

Support can be a viable revenue stream and not just something that you do to keep selling hardware. Just look at the Enhanced Margin Company - they get you coming and going!

I've observed before (but possibly not here) that products in NetApp's line get EOL'd rather more aggressively than other maufacturers products (Sun, IBM, HP, even SGI all sell/support old models longer). Having a viable re-sale market could also take the sting out of that policy.

I guess it all comes down to whether it could be seen to be made to benefit NetApp's bottom-line and medium-long term plans or not. I'd like to think it could be.