Costs Into Consideration In The Models example essay topic

There has been significant interest in the broader business community regarding the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) between the Linux and Open Source solutions on one side and Microsoft's proprietary Windows solutions on the other. Microsoft software is licence d to users on a, whereas most Linux and open source applications are available free of charge. There are, however, installation and support costs to consider. We will take all such costs into consideration in the models we present. While it is difficult to qualitatively analyse all of the TCO factors at play, it is possible to produce a reasonable estimate for the instantiation and operation of complete computer environment and network infrastructure for a, to illuminate the TCO differences between these two competing platforms. To that end, we have modelled an organisation with 250, an appropriate number of workstations, servers, Internet connectivity, an, network cabling and hardware, standard software, and salaries for IT professionals to establish and support this infrastructure and technology.

We " ve also added IT training for the staff along with expenditure items for ancillary IT systems and external consulting staff to assist in making it all work. We ran the model with two options: firstly, purchasing brand new hardware and network infrastructure explicitly for establishing this organisation's computer systems; and secondly, using preexisting hardware and infrastructure. We also simulated the IT expenses over a 3 year period, mimicking the operational lifespan of many corporate computer systems, and a mortising the purchase and installation costs over that period of time. Throughout this comparison, we will be presenting the raw data as well as the explicative methodologies used in the determination of the overall costs. While we have taken care and effort to present a holistic analysis, we are mindful that no organisation is likely to operate with the exact parameters presented here, and we therefore recommend the use of the document as a guide only.

Consider this document as a primer which you can use to generate an enhanced TCO model specifically tailored for your organisation, by removing those line items which don't make sense for your site and adding additional costs which are specific to your organisation. Further, while this document makes express use of technology and services found within the IT industry, it is intended for an audience of nonITexecutives within small to medium sized organisations. The final results are summarized in the tables below. One compares the TCO difference between Standard Linux (namely the one that isn't acquired with a) and Microsoft's platform. The second compares Red Hat's managed Enterprise Linux and Microsoft's platform. Both models include costings for deployment on either a site's existing equipment or through a complete hardware refresh.

Standard Linux Solution vs. Microsoft SolutionMicrosoftSolutionLinuxStandardSolutionSavingsAchieved by Using OpenSourcePercentageSavedExisting hardware& infrastructure is used $1,066,712 $682,090 $384,622 36%New hardware &infrastructure is purchased $1,366,883 $1,012,260 $345,623 26% Introduction In early 2002, Cybersource undertook a study into the differences in total cost of ownership between Linux and Open Source software on the one hand, and Microsoft's operating systems and applications on the other. Total cost of ownership is a measure of the total costs which each technology platform will incur for an organisation deploying that platform. In late 2004, Open Source Victoria (OSV), an industry cluster promoting open standards and open source in business, government and education, requested an updated and improved version of that initial document. This is part of a documentation set that OSV is preparing to assist organisations considering the adoption of Linux and open source solutions. This TCO comparison will be available online from now on at: http: / / w ww... com. au / about/ l vs. windows t co c. pdf This report is segmented into a number of sections Firstly, we cover the reasoning and methodology of the study itself. We also undertake a literature review, briefly examining other TCO studies which have arisen since we published our previous study.

We will also discuss research which has been undertaken recently looking into the costs of migration from Windows to Linux. Whilst this study isn't intended to provide a comparison of the costs of migration, we consider this to be a topic of broad interest, so offer what information we have found. Additionally, we look at research which discusses the usability differences between Linux and Windows. This has bearing on calculating the costs of migration of staff from one platform to the other, as well as for calculating work efficiency differences between these two platforms.

How We " ve Tipped the Scales In Microsoft's Favour Cybersource is known throughout the industry as a provider of Linux and open source solutions. There may therefore be a perceived bias towards these platforms. To counter this, we have prepared a totally transparent and open model where every single cost and assumption is documented and referenced. However, we " ve gone even further.

We " ve tipped the scales markedly in Microsoft's favour. We " ve done this in four ways. There exists survey research 1 by the Robert Frances Group which indicates that it takes 82% fewer resources to support Linux systems than Windows systems. If we applied these results to our model, expenses for the Linux side of the ledger would drop markedly. Some don't include them. We have not included the costs of malware; viruses, spyware, worms, key loggers, adware.