About Us

What is the Financial Impact of a Data Breach? This Online Calculator Provides the Answers

Founded in 1997, Maxxum is based in the Midwest with clients throughout North America. We partner with corporations, educational organizations, and government entities to strategically manage the costs and complexities associated with upgrading, expanding, refreshing, and/or disposing of your most valuable business assets. With secure, modern facilities located near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, we work with a strong network of buyers, suppliers, and recyclers to provide the most cost effective IT Asset Disposition solutions.

As a NAID AAA Certified entity, Maxxum is committed to providing the best customer service in the industry. As IT lifecycle management consultants, every program we create is fully customized to meet the specific needs of each client. We use industry best practices to sanitize computers and information hearing devices, complete with Certifications of Destruction, as outlined by the Department of Defense Data Security Standard and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) Guidelines.

Maxxum is not a recycler per se, nor an equipment VAR; therefore, we look at your disposal requirement with RISK mitigation as the first priority, rather than strictly by poundage or as new/old equipment. As such, we develop customized solutions around your specific requirements and security concerns. Maxxum looks forward to building a compliant, comprehensive, and well documented exit program for equipment and data destruction for your organization.

There is no mystery in what we do with your old computers

Electronic devices must never exit an organization without detailed documentation. This includes items that are true end-of-life devices intended for recycling. Invoices and reporting that document this type of exit which describes pounds rather than serial numbers is not regulatory protective. To protect our clients, Maxxum recycles all end-of-life equipment using only domestic partners and provides a Certificate of Electronic Equipment Destruction that documents the destruction of electronic equipment in compliance with legal and environmental standards and verifies that the equipment has been destroyed. The Certificate of Electronic Equipment Destruction includes serial number, type of equipment, date of destruction and our recycling partner’s information.

Data destruction takes place within Maxxum's secure caged area that is monitored electronically and visually (closed-caption camera) by an independent security firm and with limited electronic access.

Security, Security, Security...that is our focus

Maxxum, a certified woman-owned business, engages clients during asset disposition projects with three goals in mind:

Mitigating the risks associated with data security and electronic asset disposal
Delivering the best possible return on investment
Eliminating the hassles associated with processing and liquidating end-of-life equipment

While all three components of a disposition program are critical, in today’s regulatory environment, Maxxum strongly encourages an organization’s single highest priority surrounding end-of-life device retirement be risk mitigation.

Tips for Selecting The Correct IT Asset Disposition Partner

Selecting the best partner is the MOST important ingredient in safe and secure IT Asset disposal. Here are some areas to consider that separate the legitimate providers from the pretenders.

As a point of reference, Maxxum follows the NAID checklist weekly to ensure all NAID Certification Program are in place. Click Here to review the complete document (pdf)

Inspect and Consider The Facility’s Security

Maxxum’s processing center is in Rush City, MN. The modern (2001 construction) technical processing center is owned by a Maxxum principal, and provides a clean, secure, process-oriented and organized environment for processing. Maxxum received NAID AAA Certification in late 2010, an exhaustive certification process with stringent facility security requirements. Please click here for detailed information of all the requirements that are in place at Maxxum, per our NAID Certification process.

Employee Screening Program Must be Second to None

Maxxum’s employees are carefully screened prior to and during employment. All candidates for employment are required to pass a pre-employment criminal background check, driver's license check, and a pre-employment health examination including a mandatory drug screen. Fairview Job Care at Fairview Rush City Clinic performs all pre-employment health examinations. Maxxum background checks are performed by Verified Credentials located at 20890 Kenbridge Court, Lakeville, MN 55044 (ph: 1-800-473-4934). The services they provide are: Employment Verification, Driving Record History, and Criminal Record Searches (arrest record, county, statewide, federal). All key personnel are asked to complete a pre-employment assessment from Profiles International, Inc., to help determine selection, job match, training, and probability of success.

Written Procedures and Paperwork that Leaves Nothing to Chance

Reports, purchase orders and invoices are generated and put into MaxxumSAFE, Maxxum's proprietary web portal. Reports are completed and in client possession within 30 days of pickup. All reporting is handled via Maxxum’s proprietary project management and central repository tool, MaxxumSAFE. The following reports and information are easily generated out of or located within this web-based portal:

Project communication
Status report
Document repository, all applicable licenses, process maps
Audit reports for each pick up
Certificates of data destruction for each pick up
Certificates of electronic equipment destruction for each pick up
Historical and Future calendar views of all pickups
Facility names and contacts
Invoice number and amount
Explanation of invoice
P.O. for equipment and amount
Subtotal amount/total amounts/amounts due Maxxum or client

Third party certification is from one of the best in the industry

Maxxum has a history of providing electronic asset disposition for many of the most risk-adverse organizations in the United States. Many of the laws and certifications are currently only applicable to true recycling and scrap organizations, and yet the industry is moving towards the necessity of full-service risk partners designing and servicing asset disposition. We engage only with the most prestigious downstream vendors. We have also achieved the prestigious NAID AAA Certification. As a AAA Certified member of The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Maxxum services clients through industry best practices for regulatory compliance.

Physically Destruct Capabilities

The US Department of Defense now recognizes the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Techniques for media sanitation as its standard (complete copy of NIST guidelines available upon request). In a February 28, 2006 protocol, the Department of Defense reissued the 5220.22M regulations. In section, 8-301, it states that "Instructions on clearing, sanitation and release of IS media shall be issued by the accrediting CSA." Thus, the Department of Defense effectively allowed for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish IT security measures.

Following this new DOD direction, the agencies turned to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which has statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, Public Law 107-347. NIST responsibilities include developing technical, physical, administrative, and management standards for cost effective security measures, physical devices, and standards and procedures to maintain privacy and safeguard sensitive information. Maxxum’s software sanitization adheres to NIST standards, which exceed the former DOD standard. Maxxum’s standard practice is to physically shred any drives on which as little as one sector fails the sanitation process.

Maxxum recommends sanitizing hard drives according to the recently released NIST SecureErase standard. This method provides a widely accepted secure data destruction standard, while retaining the best possible ROI on the equipment. Maxxum certifies data destruction by serial number of the host machine tied to serial number of the hard drive, and additionally reports the date of receipt at Maxxum’s distribution center, as well as date and method of sanitation. Any hard drives that are unable to undergo electronic sanitation are shredded, and certified as destroyed. All information is destroyed and certifications provided to client within 30 days.

HDDerase is an extremely recent development to the market that is recommended by NIST SecureErase and in numerous studies shown to be more protective than DOD standard WipeDrive when used to sanitize hard drives larger than 15-20 GB. This single-pass over-write now offers the most protective and compliant overwrite sanitation method available.

Maxxum also provides physical destruction by shredding of hard drives for clients requesting this level of destruction, as well as for all hard drives that are unable to undergo electronic sanitation. As with Maxxum’s electronic sanitation process, the shredding process is certified by serial number of the host machine and includes the date of receipt at Maxxum’s distribution center, as well as the date and method of sanitation.