Server Operating Systems Report

TCO is an important selection criterion, with many of the costs hidden, including not just the purchase or acquisition costs, but also the resultant operational costs for deployment, maintenance, and support. Furthermore, there are a number of other considerations that effect overall running costs, such as system robustness, frequency of releases, need to upgrade hardware, vendor lock-in, and management time.

A number of benefits can accrue from server consolidation, such as a reduction in TCOTCO, a more secure and efficient infrastructure, and easier maintenance and deployment of applications. When contemplating consolidation it is important to take into account more than just the hardware implications. There are numerous other considerations, such as Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, software needs, administration overheads, and even human factors. There is no right or wrong answer, the aim must be to find the correct balance between a centralised and fully distributed environment to suit the unique circumstances of each organisation. Alles zu TCO auf CIO.de

The deployment of thin client architecture is a persuasive alternative to the usual `fat' client/server methodology with the benefits that can be achieved, most notably reduced administration and running costs, offsetting the relatively few issues. Nevertheless, thin client computing should not be seen as the total solution and must be used where appropriate. There will be situations where local PC processing is still the better approach. Again, the aim must be to reach a cost-effective balanced environment between the two extremes by using all the available technologies and system features to meet the requirements of both users and applications.