Re: Cost Comparisons: Centralized Data Storage -vs- Local

[paul killey <engin.umich.edu">paul]

	
	Our users are balking at the charges incurred because, they
	say, they can purchase new disks at a fraction of what we are
	asking for our services.

well, sure.  because they can.  but you are comparing apples and
oranges:  users are pricing and buying raw disk, and you're pricing and
selling services.  people who provide services based on expensive
mainframe hardware when end-users can buy cheap desktop hardware are
especially high.

time sharing services like the big one that is dying on this campus
screw up because they charge for "disk" and not "something else",
whatever something else is ... backups, maintenance, testing and
evaluation, supply and demand imbalance, arbitrary internal cost
accounting and recharge policies, etc.  The wily user sees "disk" on
his or her bill, and says "hey, i can buy a disk cheaper than that."

here is our perspective:

if we feel it costs $X to cover disk drive installation, then we charge
$X for that, and it is identified as such.  if we feel that it costs $Y
for backups, then we charge that much for people who choose to buy
backups from us (some indeed buy their own tape drives).  We sell
chunks of AFS space for a very straightforward and verifiable cost of
hardware plus an explicit annual maintenance charge.

Here, people either add drives to their own Unix machine, buy a Novell
server, or buy space from us.  Or put a bigger drive on their Mac that
their department (maybe) backs up.

(Here is the U of Mich College of Engineering)

We are not really a re-charge shop though, the same way traditional
data centers, etc. are.

I also agree with the points Bill Doster made in his response.

--paul


Paul Killey
Deputy Director
Computer Aided Engineering Network
251 Chrysler Center
Ann Arbor MI 48109-2092
(313) 763-4910 (voice)
(313) 936-3107 (fax)
paulengin.umich.edu