Enterprise hardware is undergoing a major transformation. The latest systems released in March 2025 reveal that AI capabilities are now embedded by default, shifting performance to the edge with NPUs and AI-accelerated workflows. At Compliance Standards, we’re tracking this shift — from sustainability and energy use to lifecycle impacts — and it’s clear: the next generation of enterprise PCs isn’t just faster, it’s fundamentally different.
Understanding Market Conditions:
Preparing for Tomorrow’s Challenges & Opportunities
The ITAD
Sector Pulse
Syndicated Research & The ITAD Marketing Leadership Tracker
This series is where analysts share their latest understanding of market conditions affecting the ITAD sector. Analyses are published at minimum twice per month, with the likelihood of more as the sector gets more active, to help industry executives stay abreast of issues affecting their business. A quarterly Zoom conference call is also held for subscribing clients. Topics include industry developments, economic trends, general IT sector developments and much more.
Analysts will also share proprietary data when it is appropriate within a publish document. Data comes from CS’ primary research, and/or from open source secondary research.
The Latest Analysis:
Analysis: What the Latest Devices Tell Us About the Future of Enterprise IT and ITAD
Enterprise hardware is undergoing a major transformation. The latest systems released in March 2025 reveal that AI capabilities are now embedded by default, shifting performance to the edge with NPUs and AI-accelerated workflows. At Compliance Standards, we’re tracking this shift — from sustainability and energy use to lifecycle impacts — and it’s clear: the next generation of enterprise PCs isn’t just faster, it’s fundamentally different.
ITAD Shake-Up: Mergers, Exits, and Bankruptcies: Who Will Survive the Industry’s Ongoing Transformation?
The ITAD industry is undergoing a seismic shift—bankruptcies, mergers, and market exits are reshaping the landscape. The days of ‘two men and a truck’ operations are over as larger, well-funded players consolidate power. Smome companies are doubling down on ITAD, while others are retreating. The question now is: Who will survive, and who will be left behind?
Ingram Micro’s ITAD and Lifecycle Business: Straddling the Line
Summary: Ingram Micro’s latest 4Q2024 earnings call confirms the company’s focus on higher-margin businesses like cloud, digital solutions, and AI-powered automation. And while it continues to offer ITAD services, we are not likely to see an aggressive push in ITAD....
ITAD at HP: Fragmentation, Market Perception, and the Need for Clarity
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and HP Inc. face not only the same market challenges as their competitors but also persistent branding and identity issues stemming from their corporate split. Their fragmented approach to IT asset disposition (ITAD), with overlapping business units and multiple brand variations, has led to inefficiencies and customer confusion. This lack of clarity makes it difficult for enterprise clients to navigate HP’s ITAD offerings, weakening the company’s competitiveness. To address this, HP must unify its ITAD strategy and clarify its branding through a more cohesive marketing and go-to-market approach.
First Take: Cascade Asset Management and Sage Sustainable Electronics Join in First Merger in US ITAD Sector
On January 31, 2025, Madison, WI-based Cascade Asset Management merged with Columbus, OH-based Sage Sustainable Electronics. A one-page online post by Cascade suggests that the companies will continue to operate as two independent entities for the time being. This is the first time that a merger has taken place in the industry, while the most recent transactions in the ITAD sector favored acquisitions.
IT Spending to Exceed Staggering $5 Trillion this Year: What It Means for ITAD and Sustainability
This year, global IT spending will reach a staggering $5.1 trillion, and that, according to Gartner, would be a near 10% growth from 2024, more precisely 9.8%. What’s likely to drive most of this massive spending would be companies’ digital transformation strategies....
PC Market Trends, Windows 11 Adoption Challenges and the ITAD Opportunity
As of early 2025, the global PC installed base is estimated at 1.6 billion units, with the U.S. accounting for around 240 million. Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 10 remains dominant (62.7% market share), while Windows 11 adoption lags due to strict hardware...
The Diverging ESG Landscape: While US Hits Pause Button on ESG, Industrialized Nations Keep Momentum Going
By David Daoud: After a few years that showed ESG seemingly becoming an integral part of corporate governance, US companies are making a dramatic move away from the ESG commitments. Fortune companies like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s have...
More Analyses
- The Climate Disclosure Laws that will Impact the ITAD, E-Waste and Recycling Sectors
- Despite AI, PC Market to Remain Dormant This Year. Implications on ITAD Sector
- Deep Dive Into the Education Sector’s ITAD
- New AI Features to Create More Data Security Risks, to Boost Onsite Data Erasure Services
- Strategic Foresight: The Future ITAD Factory is Already Here
- April Traffic to ITAD vendors’ online platforms up 16%
- Market Snapshot: Private Equity Firms Fueling ITAD’s Data Security Sector
- Regulators in Europe and US Push Against Greenwashing ESG and Sustainability in Investment Funds
- A Look at the ITAD Industry’s Evolving ESG Reporting Tools
- Dissecting Iron Mountain’s 1Q Financial Results: Is the ITAD Sector in Full Recovery Mode?
- The Politicization of ESG: How Various Business, Social & Political Groups have Divergent Views on ESG
- Prelim data shows March marketing activity in ITAD down 0.27%, as most leading vendors experience reduced visits to their sites
- ITAD Vendors Ratings Tables
- ITAD Vendor Reputation Rating Update & Assessing the Industry’s Readiness for ESG
- Questioning Lenovo’s ‘Sustainability-as-a-Service’ Offering
- February ITAD M&A and Transactions Update
- ITAD Marketing Efforts Drop in February 2024, Change in Top Leadership
- Microsoft’s new commercial laptops: Small push on the AI front, better sustainability and ITAD profiles
- ITAD’s Online Marketing Increases in January 2024, according to the ITAD Marketing Leadership Tracker
- ITAD Enterprise Trends: Discussion with Cascade’s Neil Peters-Michaud
- ITAD M&A and Business Transactions: January 2024 Update
- As predicted, the PC market ends 2023 with dismal results, and the writing was on the wall
- ITAD Sector’s 2024 Predictions
- Brief: Brace for possible weak PC sales in 4Q23, but ITAD vendors should benefit from that
- The shape of the hardware and device markets in 2024 and beyond with analyst Bob O’Donnell
- Recycling: 17% of US organizations dispose of their IT equipment as waste
- Active M&A period underway, yet assessing outlook remains unsettled
- Iron Mountain’s acquisition of Regency makes sense: it is getting a small but good reputation firm
- First Impression: Arrow Electronics’ 3rd.-Quarter Performance Confirms Weakness in the Component Sector
- A heated 2024: Intel on overdrive to get its ISV partners to join its AI PC program
- Microsoft’s message: “buckle up, 2024 is coming”
- The ITAD Sector’s Performance: Glass is Half-Full and Half-Empty
- Tech: Qualcomm’s huge ambitions in the PC market
- The AI Opportunity: How ITAD companies can leverage the AI Chips sector even before products are built
- Preliminary data shows improved ITAD industry sentiments in 3Q23, but market fundamentals remain weak
- The Analyst Corner: Tough Times for Marketers
- Market sizing: The challenges of estimating the US ITAD market
- California SB 253 and SB 261 are good news for ITAD vendors
- ITADs and the Labor Market
Quantum Lifecycle Partners: Cementing Front Runner Status in Canada’s ITAD Market
Quantum Lifecycle Partners is likely Canada's largest IT asset disposition (ITAD) service provider. Even if it is competing with the likes of SIMS and Iron Mountain, I am not aware of an entity in the Canadian market that’s bigger than Quantum, and it is now expanding...
Enterprise IT in a Transforming PC Market: Strategic Insights for the Coming Year
Early this week, I was asked by a client, a large earth-moving equipment manufacturer, to share my assessment of the PC sector. In the months to come, the client plans to launch a wholesale refresh of its PCs and servers and has increased its spending budget for 2025...
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