Comments on: “I’ve got lots of computers at my school!” http://grumbledook.com/2009/04/07/ive-got-lots-of-computers-at-my-school/ Another Blog from Grumbledook & co Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:26:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Tony http://grumbledook.com/2009/04/07/ive-got-lots-of-computers-at-my-school/comment-page-1/#comment-128 Tony Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:17:39 +0000 http://grumbledook.com/?p=59#comment-128 Hi Kevin Yes, the Academy planning takes this pretty much into account but there are still many, many schools out there that are not falling under Academy / BSF / PFI programs and some are making faults due to either poor planning (a decreasing problem in my experience) or poor decisions at senior levels in the school due to lack of understanding about sustainability. Hi Kevin

Yes, the Academy planning takes this pretty much into account but there are still many, many schools out there that are not falling under Academy / BSF / PFI programs and some are making faults due to either poor planning (a decreasing problem in my experience) or poor decisions at senior levels in the school due to lack of understanding about sustainability.

]]> By: Sam Prince http://grumbledook.com/2009/04/07/ive-got-lots-of-computers-at-my-school/comment-page-1/#comment-127 Sam Prince Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:15:19 +0000 http://grumbledook.com/?p=59#comment-127 It's complicated further by the fact that your desktop has a relatively short upgrade cycle compared with your infrastructure and in my experience the server backend too. For a new build, you will have a load of upfront infrastructure and backend costs which won't be representative of the long-term picture. As a first approximation, the cost of getting a desktop running is: The PC and screen (£400) Licenses for the PC (£0 - £500, i.e. very variable) The cost of putting a network point on the wall (£50) The cost of running the cable to the network point (including trunking divided by number of cables inside it) (£50) The cost of a 48 port switch divided by 48 (£50) The cost of a backbone link to the network core divided by the number of devices on that link at the point when it reaches capacity (£?) The cost of a core switch or switches divided by the number of devices on the network (£5-10?) The total cost of servers divided by the number of devices on the network(£???) The total cost of server licenses divided by the number of devices on the network(£???) The total cost of UPSs divided by the number of devices on the network(£3?) The total cost of cabinets divided by the number of devices on the network(£5?) Electricity (£0 - it's free! ;) ) Then you need to work out the replacement cycle of each to get an annual rate. It would also make sense to look at scaling - if you double the number of desktops on the network, will that double the backend cost? For some of the above it will, but it's unlikely to double the cost of servers. Also, I'm not sure a percentage would really work - a more expensive device won't necessarily consume more resources - to me a flat fee makes more sense. Of course you could always get $consultancyFirm in to work out all the sums like P4S would. It’s complicated further by the fact that your desktop has a relatively short upgrade cycle compared with your infrastructure and in my experience the server backend too.

For a new build, you will have a load of upfront infrastructure and backend costs which won’t be representative of the long-term picture.

As a first approximation, the cost of getting a desktop running is:

The PC and screen (£400)
Licenses for the PC (£0 – £500, i.e. very variable)
The cost of putting a network point on the wall (£50)
The cost of running the cable to the network point (including trunking divided by number of cables inside it) (£50)
The cost of a 48 port switch divided by 48 (£50)
The cost of a backbone link to the network core divided by the number of devices on that link at the point when it reaches capacity (£?)
The cost of a core switch or switches divided by the number of devices on the network (£5-10?)
The total cost of servers divided by the number of devices on the network(£???)
The total cost of server licenses divided by the number of devices on the network(£???)
The total cost of UPSs divided by the number of devices on the network(£3?)
The total cost of cabinets divided by the number of devices on the network(£5?)
Electricity (£0 – it’s free! ;) )

Then you need to work out the replacement cycle of each to get an annual rate. It would also make sense to look at scaling – if you double the number of desktops on the network, will that double the backend cost? For some of the above it will, but it’s unlikely to double the cost of servers. Also, I’m not sure a percentage would really work – a more expensive device won’t necessarily consume more resources – to me a flat fee makes more sense.

Of course you could always get $consultancyFirm in to work out all the sums like P4S would.

]]> By: Kevin Mulryne http://grumbledook.com/2009/04/07/ive-got-lots-of-computers-at-my-school/comment-page-1/#comment-126 Kevin Mulryne Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:21:52 +0000 http://grumbledook.com/?p=59#comment-126 Hi - I used to work for the Becta team charged with sorting out Academy infrastructure - these issues should be led by a Becta consultant...is there not one involved? All the Academies I worked on - and there were many - started from the premise that the infrastructure was the foundation - get this right and then everything else will follow. Maybe things have changed since I left Becta but my former team worked really hard to ensure Academies all had this covered! Thanks for the post on this. Kevin Hi – I used to work for the Becta team charged with sorting out Academy infrastructure – these issues should be led by a Becta consultant…is there not one involved?

All the Academies I worked on – and there were many – started from the premise that the infrastructure was the foundation – get this right and then everything else will follow. Maybe things have changed since I left Becta but my former team worked really hard to ensure Academies all had this covered!

Thanks for the post on this.

Kevin

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