PRO+ Premium Content/Storage magazine
Access your Pro+ Content below.
TCO analysis: does it work for storage?
This article is part of the Storage magazine issue of Vol. 1 No. 9 November 2002
What does a storage solution actually cost? Ask a vendor and they'll most likely answer your question with another question: How much do you want it to cost? It's a well-known fact that vendors, consultants, analysts and even CIOs themselves can manipulate the TCO analysis to make costly solutions look cheap, cheap solutions look costly and anything in-between depending on their particular agenda. As a result, Senior Analyst Tony Prigmore of the Enterprise Storage Group in Milford, MA, says, "TCO is bad. We assess models and by and large they are invalid. We haven't seen a consistent level of credibility in any vendor TCO model." His recommendation to clients: "Do not bother with a TCO analysis unless you control the assumptions and data behind the model." Manipulating TCO models TCO models offer ample places to build in bias. Acquisition price - the lower the price, the lower the TCO, but is this the price you actually get? System sizing - vendors can undersize the system to lower the acquisition price and resulting TCO. ...
Access this PRO+ Content for Free!
Features in this issue
-
Storage industry index
May followed April's dramatic decline.
-
API Swaps: Only Skin Deep
-
Microsoft Scales Data Center Wall with MPIO
Microsoft is exhausting data center managers' objections to running Windows in the data center.
-
Bocada clarifies backup picture
Bocada's latest version of BackupReport could make your life easier if you have to track multiple backup servers.
-
Virtualize the right way
Here are some guidelines for designing virtualized systems.
-
Migrating Data No Picnic - and No Bargain
To describe data migration as complex is an understatement and tools to assist in data migration, meanwhile, are few and far between,
-
How to make your budget case
Justify yourself to the budget committee - here's how.
-
Network appliance raises the bar for NAS/SAN convergence
The FAS900 series breaks new ground in bringing together file and block storage.
-
The Whys and Wherefores of Failed Backups
Despite all the effort storage administrators pour into backup, backups fail about 40% of the time.
-
Storage Manager Profile
NAS vs. SAN? Who Cares?
-
Get top performance from database storage
Taking your SAN beyond backup to run production databases requires the right layout, good practices and better integration. The benefits: high performance, floor-space savings and streamlined operations.
-
Towards the new data center
Modular servers, separate storage and networked storage all add up to flexibility and efficiency unprecedented in the glass house.
Columns in this issue
-
It still comes down to good old backup and restore
Storage Bin: After all these years, it still comes down to good old backup and restore.
-
Guidelines to troubleshooting your SAN.
Guidelines to troubleshooting your SAN.
-
Do you use 1Gb/s or 2Gb/s switches?
Do you use 1Gb/s or 2Gb/s switches?
-
Pick the right database backup option
Pick the right database backup option.
-
Time to sign up
Time to sign up.