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Before you go
out and spend any money on hardware there are some steps to take.� These will help assure that you end up
with the hardware you really need.�
Saving you time and money.
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First determine
what software you will be running and what the hardware requirements
are.� Keep in mind that some software
manufacturers will provide two different specs.� One will be what is required the other will be what is
recommended.� Can you guess which
specifications you should concern yourself with?� If you are running some custom or vertical market applications
you may also want to contact current users to determine what configuration is
really required.
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After you have
determined what hw configuration is best, consider your future needs to
expand or upgrade.� Most growing
businesses will want to have computers that are expandable and upgradeable.� Databases will grow and software will be
upgraded often requiring greater hw capacity.
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If you�re
consider refreshing your company�s hw, don�t forget to see if any of your
current equipment is still usable.�
Perhaps, some machines could be used elsewhere within the organization
or the viability of taking advantage of MS�s Terminal Services technology,
which will allow you to run the latest software on legacy PCs.
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Take the time to
calculate the total cost of ownership or TCO.� I always thought TCO was only for big businesses, but it�s
not.� A common mistake is to shop for
the least expensive computer hardware without considering the other costs to
actually owning the hardware over a period of time.
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For example,
what percentage of the total cost of ownership is the actually cost of the
hardware itself?
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In a typical
five-year life cycle it�s only 20%!!
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What actually
contributes to the total cost of ownership?
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Training
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User
productivity
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Downtime
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Upgrading
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Maintenance and
support
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AdministrationCan I get some use out of legacy equipment I
currently have?� You�re going to learn
about MS terminal services technology later in our seminar.� If you have legacy hw you�ll find that it
just might still be usable.
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Do your best to
determine whether or not you�ll be needing to expand or upgrade.
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A common
mistake, especially by� SMB, is to
look for simply the cheapest box available.�
Question, what percentage of the total cost of ownership is the
hardware?
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In a typical
five year life cycle it�s only 20%!!
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TCO includes:
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Training
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User
productivity
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Downtime
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Upgrading
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Maintenance and
support
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Administration
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