From Global Business & Economics Journal, December 12, 2025:
The article explores Arun Dalli’s groundbreaking work in strategic technology decommissioning, an emerging discipline focused on creating value through subtraction rather than expansion. As a Senior Staff Capacity Engineer at ServiceNow and former Meta capacity leader, Dalli reclaims financial and environmental resources by retiring obsolete infrastructure. His approach transforms decommissioning into a data-driven, human-centered process that funds future AI and ML growth. The piece reframes infrastructure retirement as a cornerstone of sustainable innovation.
In the race for AI dominance, tech giants are accumulating vast digital boneyards: underutilized servers and legacy code that quietly drain budgets and power grids. This has given rise to the unseen economy of subtraction, where value is created not by what is built, but by what is strategically dismantled.
In the relentless drive for innovation, a counterintuitive discipline is gaining critical importance: the strategic decommissioning of technology. While the industry often focuses on addition, a significant financial and environmental drain comes from aging infrastructure. This challenge requires a specialized focus on retiring technology in a way that funds future advancements.
Arun Dalli, a Senior Staff Capacity Engineer at ServiceNow with over 12 years of experience in hyperscale infrastructure, focuses on this complex discipline. Having previously managed capacity for Meta/Facebook’s massive global infrastructure, Dalli’s work involves retiring thousands of servers to reclaim millions in operational costs, redirecting those resources toward AI and machine learning initiatives.
Retiring server graveyards
The process of retiring vast server fleets involves more than just technical logistics; it requires a deep understanding of the human element. The term ‘digital undertaker’ aptly describes the role of presiding over the end-of-life for technology that was once state-of-the-art. Dalli explains, “Strategic decommissioning isn’t just removing equipment; it’s acknowledging when hardware has served its purpose and orchestrating an exit that honors both its service and the people who depend on it.”This work is human-centric because every server represents past decisions and workflows. Application teams often become attached to their infrastructure, viewing migration as a significant risk.
This organizational inertia, sometimes described as the legacy paradox, stems from a preference for known flaws over the unknown challenges of modernization. “My role was helping teams see that the greater risk was clinging to aging hardware,” Dalli states.
To manage this, he created a clear lifecycle state framework—Decomhold, Migration Hold, and In Sanitization—to make transitions manageable. This structured approach aligns with change management best practices that empower staff by making improvements visible and tangible, thereby reducing resistance....
Funding the future...
....MUCH MORE
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