Streamline HP Blade Servers

Good day, dear Khabrovites!
It so happened that I had at my disposal 2 cabinets with blade servers (the total number of blades was 57 pcs). And then I had a question: "What am I supposed to do with all this" good "?"
Actually, the configuration of iron and possible options for further development of events are described under the cut. Who can help with practical advice - please!

So, I’ll start with a little background ...
Iron was bought in 2008 in order to open a hosting center in our glorious regional center. The hosting was launched, he worked for half a year, he didn’t bring any profit (I think, because of poor management and a lack of understanding of what to do with this). As a result, the shop was closed, the equipment was turned off (but left at the provider’s site), it stood idle for three and a half years ... And then it was handed over to our company as payment for debts ...
Our company does not need such kind of goods for its needs, This sees two options for the development of events: either the sale of these servers or the opening of an additional business line (the same hosting) in order to use this hardware until it is completely out of date.



Now I will dwell in more detail on the fact that, in my opinion, all this “good” can be done.
Option one (theoretically, lighter).
Sell ​​it all soon!
But here the question arises: who may need it?
As I understand it, such hardware will not be suitable for launching a new data center (hosting); already quite outdated + the warranty has expired, but everyone wants a newer and more powerful + so that the warranty with the manufacturer's support was. It would be logical to assume that such equipment is suitable for those data centers that want to increase their capacities without spending too much ... But again, it’s a bad luck: I myself did not find (maybe poorly searched) in the vastness of our independent Nenko Ukraine a center where such equipment would be used, and few would agree to scale their capacities with motley equipment.
Here you will say that you need to advertise, put up for sale is all for some kind of auctions ... but again I haven’t seen specialized forum sites ... but on our Aukro (analogue of Hammer in Russia) potential there are no buyers (several times I set up both the server separately and in whole cabinets - I didn’t even show interest)
As an option, put these servers on the international platform (the same eBay) - but how can I sell all this if the CIS residents can only buy? At the moment, I’m considering the possibility of finding a mediator from Europe / USA who would help to push this all (if you know such people, please let me know). I will say right away that the price for equipment is right low, because we got it for a relatively low cost.
So, the seemingly banal decision to “sell” turns out to be not so simple, and now I am more and more beginning to lean toward the second scenario ...

The second variant (complex and long).
Open your hosting!
In theory, all the prerequisites for this are:

• The equipment is already located at the site of the largest provider in the city.
• We have good relations with the provider (even part of the cable belongs to our company).
• In reality, and not nominally, we have no working hosting centers in the city, and there is definitely a demand for such services.
• The management of our company is not opposed to expand their business.
• I myself am full of ambition to launch a serious IT project.

But besides this, there are certain difficulties:

• In addition to ambition, IT education and a little managerial experience with sales experience, I have nothing behind me that could help in this matter.
• The problem of personnel. They need to be found somewhere, but there are no data (hosting) centers in the city that really work and are profitable at the same time (I did not think up other options where to find the team). And if you can still get out with support somehow, then you will not find real experts on setting up / launching such projects in the afternoon with fire.
• These personnel must be paid immediately, and the expected profit from the project will not be right away.
• The management of our company is not opposed to expanding its business, but is afraid to invest money without any guarantee of profit.

In general, the option of opening a hosting seems more interesting to me, but there are a lot of questions that I haven’t found an answer to yet ...

Well, at the end of the post, I appeal to the community: if anyone has good advice or experience in selling such equipment (experience in launching a data center or hosting) - really looking forward to your comments. I hope that if not the article itself, so at least the comments on it will be interesting and useful not only to me, but also to many, many readers of the Habra.