Fabrik Makes It Fast and Easy to Recycle SimpleTech Drives
With Second Rotation's Gazelle.com Service, Fabrik Customers Can Recycle SimpleTech Drives Responsibly, and Even Make Some 'Green'
SAN MATEO, Calif. and SANTA ANA, Calif., Sept. 3 -- If you're upgrading to a higher capacity, higher performance or more eco-friendly SimpleTech external storage and backup solution, your old one could be worth money. As part of Fabrik's (http://www.fabrik.com/) ongoing commitment to protect the environment and manage the entire lifecycle of its SimpleTech products (http://www.simpletech.com/), the company has announced a new partnership with Second Rotation to make it fast and easy to recycle its SimpleTech external drives. Second Rotation's newly re-branded service, Gazelle (http://www.gazelle.com/), offers consumers and companies a means to earn cash and recycle used or unwanted electronic devices in an environmentally-friendly way, keeping even more unwanted electronics out of landfills.
"Virtually every consumer in the U.S. relies on at least one, if not multiple, consumer electronic devices to capture, store or share digital content, including computers and laptops, PDA's, cell phones, MP3 players and cameras. We're addicted, and it's causing the need for more storage space," said Mike Williams, general manager at Fabrik. "As people find they need more room, and decide to upgrade their storage device, Second Rotation gives them a chance to earn cash for older SimpleTech products, while providing them with a simple way to reuse or recycle older devices responsibly."
Most consumers don't want to go through the hassle of selling used products themselves, so devices often end up in the trash or sit in a closet collecting dust. Since most gadgets retain value and usefulness far longer than a manufacturer's determined life cycle, Gazelle removes the challenges associated with selling goods online and offers an ecologically responsible solution by extending the life of unwanted gadgets. After entering details about the used device on the site, Gazelle quickly determines the value of the item, provides a means for shipping and then pays you a fair market value once the item is received. Once personal data is removed by Gazelle, items are then resold, reused or recycled. If you prefer, Gazelle can even donate the sell price to your favorite charity. Dubbed 'reCommerce,' not only does this help reduce e-waste in landfills, but the energy savings that results from this process is also significant. For example, the energy savings potential of reselling or upgrading a computer is in the range of 5-20 times greater than recycling it*.
In addition to SimpleTech-branded external hard drives, Gazelle's catalog includes more than 17,000 SKUs, such as cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, MP3 players, GPS units, camcorders, game consoles, or satellite radios from leading vendors. If a gadget isn't in the catalog, the company will customize an offer for you, then add that item to the database, so its service grows as more users participate.
"ReCommerce is playing a crucial role in solving inappropriate disposal and can help offset energy challenges," said Rousseau Aurelien, CEO, Second Rotation. "E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste segments in America. The Environmental Protection Agency says we throw out more than 300 million electronic items per year. We're glad to see Fabrik doing its part in curbing this trend, while offering consumers a simple and responsible way to put a little cash in their pocket at Gazelle.com."
Out with the old, and in with the new!
If you're in need of a storage upgrade, Fabrik offers several affordable and reliable SimpleTech solutions to get you on your way:
-- SimpleTech [re]drive(TM) - The world's most energy-efficient, resource-conscious, Turbo USB 2.0 external storage and backup drive. Energy savings can equal up to 90 percent** when compared to traditional hard drives. 500GB.
-- SimpleTech Signature Mini(TM) Portable Drive - Stylish design by Pininfarina, and is available in multiple color and capacity options up to 500GB. Durable and made for travel, the drive is USB bus-powered so no extra power supply is needed.
-- SimpleTech SimpleDrive(TM) - Simple and affordable external storage and backup. Plug n' play, Turbo-powered USB keeps your data moving up to 25 percent faster than USB 2.0. Automated backup software saves copies of your stuff on the drive and on encrypted, secure servers for ultimate online backup protection. 250GB to 1TB (1,000GB).
-- SimpleTech Pro Drive(TM) - Plug n' play, high-performance storage and backup with USB 2.0 and fast 3Gb/sec eSATA interface options. Both local and online backup software are included for two levels of protection.
-- SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive(TM) - Massive performance, capacity and protection with RAID 0 for fast performance or RAID 1 for added protection. Secure and stackable with the Pro Drive for easy storage expansion. USB 2.0 and eSATA interface. 1TB-2TB capacities.
For more information about SimpleTech products by Fabrik and where to buy, please visit http://www.simpletech.com/.
About Fabrik, Inc.
Fabrik delivers a blend of online services, software, memory and storage solutions that help consumers, small businesses and AV professionals store, access and manage their growing collections of digital content. The company's online services, http://www.joggle.com/ and http://www.fabrikultimatebackup.com/, are marketed directly to consumers online, and through global channel partnerships. Fabrik's leading storage brands include SimpleTech and G-Technology. For more information, please visit http://www.fabrik.com/. Fabrik Inc., founded in 2005, is a privately owned company headquartered in San Mateo with offices in Santa Ana and Culver City, California.
About Second Rotation
Founded in 2006, Second Rotation, the company behind Gazelle (http://www.gazelle.com/), is committed to providing an easy, fast and safe way for consumers to get cash for selling back their used consumer electronic(s) and/or recycle them in an environmentally-friendly way. To date, thousands of consumers have used the service as a way to successfully clean out their closets, get cash and even help out a good cause -- all while being green. In addition, Gazelle.com empowers consumers to avoid time consuming and risky online experiences that are a pain in the neck and benefit from the immediate insight that a fixed price for used items gives them -- as well as conveniences like free shipping and packaging. Consumers also rest assured that their personal information is kept exactly that -- personal, through a thorough data cleansing process. Based in Boston, Second Rotation is led by a group of successful entrepreneurs and consumer Internet veterans from companies like eBay, BuyerZone and Fairmarket and is backed by premier venture capital firm, Venrock.
* Energy analysis of end-of-life options for computers: Resell, upgrade, recycle. E. Williams and Y. Sasaki. in Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA, 187-192 (2003) http://www.it-environment.org/publications/ISEE%2003%20RUR.pdf
** Estimated power savings per daily watts. Savings will vary depending on how long the external drive and/or computer system is left on. Calculations are based on using a traditional 7200RPM 500GB external drive running 24/7 at 200 watts/day (10% R/W, 90% idle), compared to the [re]drive running 5/24 at 19 watts/day (10% R/W, 90% idle) in a system that sleeps or is turned off.
For purposes of measuring disk drive storage capacity, one gigabyte (GB) represents one billion bytes and one terabyte (TB) represents one trillion bytes. SimpleTech external storage solutions and Fabrik Ultimate Backup serve as an element of an overall backup strategy. When reselling, reusing or recycling any storage-based device, it is important to erase all personal and private information from the drive using a whole disk erasing program.
(C) 2008 - Fabrik Inc. (http://www.fabrik.com/). Fabrik, SimpleTech, Fabrik Ultimate Backup, Signature Mini, SimpleTech Pro Drive, SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive and [re]drive are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Fabrik, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
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