Looks like I skipped 13 and 14 since my last post, and now there are 15-17 up on Dave’s site. Sorry I know I was going to try and comment Dave, but there are so many things to discuss…. Storage System Availability (#13) another one of the soft costs that are hard to deal with (as Dave points out)…how much money is lost if I can’t access the sales data? That is difficult to find….but it is something that needs to be evaluated in your company so that an appropriate value can be placed on the system and an appropriate amount of money and strategy can be invested. Data Floor Space (14) and the cost of electricity (15) are very real things that companies are concerned about. The storage industry needs to … Read entire article »

During the course of one of my classes I ended up working with a student who was unable to use a reliable spreadsheet application at home. This means that their only option to complete any spreadsheet work would be to come into the computer lab and use Microsoft Office on those computers. Of course with the snow and usual pain in the butt that goes along with coming into the computer lab, this is kind of a crappy option. So why doesn’t he have a spreadsheet application? Well why wouldn’t anyone have a spreadsheet application accessible to them at home in these modern times? To be honest, I didn’t ask, I felt as though I was intruding a little too much with that question. Everyone should have access to these tools. … Read entire article »

I have been reading David Merrill’s Cost of Storage series. It has been a good read so far. I do have a few things I would like to point out. Usually I would comment, but it is easier to put them all in one place on my blog vs. different comments on all of the posts over there. Categories 1 and 2 + Categories 3 and 4 are real dollar costs that will be depreciated over the life of their usefulness. Of course how this is done depends greatly on both the company purchasing the hardware and software as well as the company selling the hardware and software. Most companies are going to purchase multi-year maintenance plans for their software and hardware. However the IT department calculates it the business will take … Read entire article »

I came across a post on Jesper Johansen’s site today about the Required Attributes of Security Solutions. It is an interesting list of attributes that any security solution should have. Being that I am in the midst of an accounting class, I quickly made an association between the attributes of the two…. First the Principles of Design Cost-Benefit Principle – This Principle states that the benefits derived from the system should be equal to or greater then the systems total cost. This holds true for both accounting and security systems, for instance it would not make sense to purchase a security system at a cost of $1m (with a 5yr lifetime) that could only ever prevent $500k in damages (material or immaterial) over the same lifetime. Control Principle – This principle requires that … Read entire article »