» Chris asks
What is the best way to compare the real costs of new IT equipment? For instance, I know some products may cost more but offer greater energy cost savings long term.
- I hear some commentators on TV saying that we are coming out of the recession. Others are saying no, things are terrible. Here's my question: should we upgrade our technology, or invest in marketing instead? We've been fortunate in this recession and have the funds. But if the recession is going to linger I'd rather spend that money on marketing to make sure our revenues remain steady and do not drop. If we're coming out of the recession then I'd like to upgrade my tech so that we can expand capacity to deal with immediate growth.
- I am interested if you have a map / list of "wired" places in America? Where is the best high speed internet connection, WiFi, hotspots, meeting places with internet access, data traffic through mobile phones, etc. Where is the ideal place for distance work? My questions come after reading Rich Karlgaard's book, Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness.
- What do you think the next big thing will be when it comes to the smartphone / personal digital assistant / notebook? Is the mobile technology already present in the "cloud"?
- I'm worried about losing all of my blog pictures, purchased and downloaded online, if something should happen to my computer. What is the best and most cost effective way to protect myself? Is it better to store them on a flash drive or use an online backup service? Thanks in advance.
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This is a fairly complicated question, but a couple companies have TCO / ROI calculator utilities that might be worth checking out as a starting point:
http://www.intel.com/business/technologies/virtualization.htm
http://vmware.com/go/calculator
Hi Chris,
The cost of operating IT equipment is partly related to how energy efficient the equipment is to begin with, and partly a result of how well you conserve energy and manage power when operating it.
Forrester Research has a fun and very simple calculator to calculate your baseline energy usage with IT assets. As long as you know the watts per hour used by a computer or other IT equipment, it helps you calculate the operating cost and compare savings.
http://blogs.forrester.com/it_infrastructure/2009/02/whats-your-gree.html
For other calculators, as well as tips for how to conserve energy, you might want to check out Business.gov:
http://www.business.gov/expand/green-business/energy-efficiency/calculate-savings/index.html
Hope this helps!