Linux Vs Windows Tco

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 licenced to users on a feeforproduct

basis, 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 firstpass

quantitative estimate for the instantiation and operation of

a complete computer environment and network infrastructure for a smalltomedium

organisation, to illuminate the TCO differences between these two competing platforms.

To that end, we have modelled an organisation with 250 computerusing

staff, an

appropriate number of workstations, servers, Internet connectivity, an ebusiness

system,

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 amortising 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 nonIT

executives 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 prepaid

support

contract) 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 Solution

Microsoft

Solution

Linux

Standard

Solution

Savings

Achieved by

Using Open

Source

Percentage

Saved

Existing 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

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