Every piece of IT equipment has a useful life. Laptops typically last three to four years in a corporate environment before performance degrades and support costs spike. Network switches and access points last five to seven years before they fall off vendor support. Servers and storage systems follow similar cycles. The problem isn't that equipment ages. The problem is that most companies don't plan for it.
The enterprise network equipment market reached $93.39 billion in 2026 and is growing at 11.83% annually, projected to reach $163.35 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence. Fortune Business Insights values the broader network equipment market at $174.55 billion in 2026, heading toward $253.98 billion by 2034. That's a staggering amount of hardware moving through the supply chain every year, much of it replacing aging infrastructure.
For companies with multiple office locations, equipment refresh projects are particularly complex. You're not just buying 500 laptops. You're buying 500 laptops, configuring each one with the correct software image, enrolling them in your device management platform, shipping them to the right location, coordinating with local staff for the swap, migrating user data, collecting old equipment, and handling secure disposal or recycling of retired assets.
Data center deployment spending reached $26.45 billion in 2023, according to Market Research Future. That figure doesn't include the labor cost of actually installing and configuring the equipment, which often exceeds the hardware cost for complex deployments.
The companies that handle refresh cycles well treat them as ongoing programs rather than one-time projects. They maintain an asset inventory that tracks the age, warranty status, and performance metrics of every device. They plan replacements 12 to 18 months in advance so they can budget appropriately and avoid emergency purchases at premium prices. And they work with deployment partners who can execute the physical work across all locations simultaneously, rather than dragging the process out over months.
The alternative is what most companies actually do: wait until equipment starts failing, then react. A laptop dies and the user is down for two days while IT scrambles to find a replacement. A switch fails and an entire floor loses network connectivity. A server hits end-of-life and suddenly the company is paying 3x for extended support because they didn't plan the migration in time.
For multi-site companies, the coordination challenge is the hardest part. You need someone who can manage the logistics of getting the right equipment to the right location at the right time, with qualified technicians available to do the installation. You need standardized processes so that the deployment in the Atlanta office looks the same as the one in Seattle. And you need centralized reporting so leadership knows exactly where the project stands at any given moment.
The companies that invest in structured refresh programs spend less on IT over time, experience fewer outages, and maintain higher employee productivity. It's not exciting work, but it's the kind of operational discipline that separates well-run companies from the ones constantly fighting fires.