How Can Data Be Erased in a Way that Is Safe, Secure and Earth-Friendly? Global Standard ITAD Services in Pursuit of Realizing a Circular Economy

Masakazu Kamijo, President and CEO, Representative Director of EPC Japan

Background to the Company Name EPC Japan

——Could you tell us about EPC Japan’s business?

　

Kamijo: EPC Japan provides kitting services*1 and ITAD*2 services for IT assets such as PCs and servers.

Kitting could be referred to as the entry point, involving setting up devices and installing the necessary software for immediate use. ITAD services, on the other hand, represent the exit point, including proper disposal through data erasure and shredding as well as refurbishment*3

Our parent company, Tokyo Century, provides a one-stop life cycle management (LCM) service from entry to exit by adding services to leased items according to the life cycle of IT assets. This includes everything from installation (kitting) to operation and management (maintenance and repair), erasure, disposal and reuse. EPC Japan plays a central role in Tokyo Century’s LCM service.

*1 Kitting is the configuration of devices and installation of necessary software.
*2 IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) is the safe and appropriate disposal of IT assets in compliance with information management, environmental protection and other requirements.
*3 Refurbishment refers to the repairing and restoring of electrical appliances and information devices that have been returned due to initial defects or products that have been used once.

——Why did the company change its name?

Kamijo: Our company was founded in 2005. That’s when we started our business in a warehouse in Tatsumi, and years later we moved here to Zama, in 2017.

To bring global standard technology from EPC, Inc. (EPC) to Japan, we took on a fresh challenge in December 2023under the new company name EPC Japan, with CSI Japan as a shareholder. EPC is a group company of CSI Leasing, Inc. (CSI), Tokyo Century’s consolidated subsidiary that leases IT equipment and provides data erasure services around the globe.

The name EPC Japan reflects our intention to position ourselves as a Japanese subsidiary of EPC, a U.S. company that operates a worldwide data erasure business, by adapting its technology for use in Japan.

EPC Japan is a tenant at GLP Zama.

Safety and Security Should Be Taken for Granted. What Is the Global Standard ITAD Service Provided by EPC Japan?

　
　

——What do you think about the growing awareness of information security?

Kamijo: Demand for ITAD services is worldwide, and there is also a rising awareness of information security and compliance with environmental laws and regulations in Japan. Corporate IT assets store all kinds of information on customers, technology, finances and so forth, and any leak or breach would clearly inflict damage in many areas. That’s why information security has emerged as an essential business concern for companies that value sound governance and compliance.

　
　

—What must be done by businesses handling customer IT assets?

Kamijo: I think that safe and secure data erasure is a prerequisite and absolutely necessary to gain customer trust. One easy way to measure trust is through international certification. EPC Japan has obtained four ISO certifications: ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), ISO 27001 (information) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety).

The extent to which a company meets global standards is one factor to becoming trustworthy internationally, and this is even more evident for larger companies.

—In addition to international certification, what other way has EPC Japan’s demonstrated strength in upholding global standards?

Kamijo: Our other strength is the data erasure method included in our ITAD service.

There are three methods for erasing data: (1) software (using an erasure license from Blancco Ltd., USA), (2) physical destruction, and (3) magnetic destruction. Before changing the company name, when customers requested physical destruction, we drilled holes in SSDs*4 and HDDs*5 to make them unrecoverable. However, overseas companies are not confident that this method is sufficiently secure.

Basically, many companies choose software because it allows for reuse of the PCs after data erasure and is also Earth-friendly. As for physical destruction, Japanese companies tend to prefer drilling holes, whereas shredding is the mainstream globally.

*4 Solid-state drive: A recording device in PCs and other devices that reads and writes data on a memory chip.
*5 Hard disk drive: A recording device in PCs and other devices that reads and writes data magnetically on a rapidly rotating disk.

Kamijo: I feel that we need to raise public awareness of what constitutes the global standard.

Kamijo: We receive many orders from globally operating companies and foreign-affiliated companies, such as through referrals from Tokyo Century’s International Business segment. So we’ve recently introduced a dedicated SSD and HDD shredder similar to the one used by EPC in the U.S., to dispel even the slightest concerns. So, we can now physically destroy SSDs and HDDs by shredding them into particles smaller than 35 mm.

SSD shredder

HDD shredder

Kitting Service Expands with the Rise of Generative AI and Demand for Operational Efficiency

　
　

——I want to ask you now about kitting services. First of all, what is kitting?

Kamijo: Kitting refers to completing preparations such as making initial settings and installing the necessary software when installing PCs and servers. We provide customized kitting services according to customer requests. Pre-setup PCs are delivered, which helps reduce the customer’s workload when installing equipment.

　
　

——Is the kitting service for PCs and servers only?

Kamijo: No, it’s not limited to those. There is kitting for AI cameras, for example, and we’ve been receiving an increasing number of requests for this. AI cameras help streamline operations through image analysis and for marketing through analysis of human interactions, so these cameras are expected to be useful tools for covering labor shortages and reading granular needs.

　
　

——With the rise of generative AI, the number of data centers is expected to increase. Do you think that orders for kitting will go up?

　

Kamijo: An increasing number of data centers will also drive demand for more servers, so we expect to see an increase in server kitting and other related services.

For now, ITAD services represent the vast majority of orders we receive, but orders for kitting are gradually rising as well.

I feel that the momentum for outsourcing is also going up.

In addition, the demand for kitting depends on having to upgrade a device’s operating system. Since support for Windows 10 will end in October 2025, we’re receiving more inquiries from companies anticipating that they’ll need to replace their PCs.

Kamijo: Since both ITAD and kitting markets are expected to expand, we would like to focus on developing human resources and

improving our work environment.

Striving to Realize a Circular Economy as a Leading ITAD Company

　
　

——Finally, what do you see for the future of this business?

Kamijo: Last year, we erased about 270,000 units of data, and this fiscal year we’re targeting about 350,000.

While the overall market is still in its infancy, EPC Japan is expected to expand based on including customer-owned IT assets in our services in addition to existing assets as their leases expire. We aim to provide the same level of service we’ve provided in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, across Japan, with the goal of increasing data erasure to 400,000 or 500,000 units.

We lease kitted PCs and servers, erase the data after the lease contract expires, and return reusable components to the market through refurbishing, reuse and material sales. We’re proud to say that our business demonstrates the circular economy that Tokyo Century aspires to be part of.

Of course, safety and security cannot be guaranteed for free. As a leading ITAD company in the Japanese market, we’ll work to widely disseminate the global standard of data erasure service and promote its value throughout the domestic market as a service worth paying for.

With EPC Japan members and loaned staff from Tokyo Century at the entrance of GLP Zama

Note: The contents of the article and the position titles are current as of the date posted.

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