> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Batson [mailto:rcb@kc.rr.com]
> http://consultingtimes.com/Serverheist.html

Interesting.  

I took the ad in question to be one promoting moving older Mini-mainframe
servers to rack-mounted clusters, which we've discussed before.  The hard
drives on the last '390 I worked on - each of which took up a good two
square yards by probably seven feet tall - had drive motors that each
outweighed all of the devices in my Main Data Facility (excluding the
racks).

If somebody's hiring "support person per shift must be literate in PCs,
networks, Cisco, Windows NT, and Microsoft Exchange" for $55k, um, YO!
Available!  I don't get that much.  Admittedly, while I've never met a Cisco
I couldn't configure, troubleshoot, and fix, I have no official Cisco certs.

Eleven NT servers would also require dedicated WINS, DNS, PDC, and BDC
servers, licenses, etc.

"Linux License (1 x $250 + 3 x $35K)  $ 105,250 "  Huh? Wha?  I owe license
fees to Linus or somebody?

"Groupware (5,000 mailboxes x $14.2 per seat)  $ 71,000" - How about
Sendmail/postfix and kmail? $0.  (Even Outlook Express - $0, and pretty
danged good software, if somewhat subject to worms.)

Groupware, by the way, sucks.  Big time.  Notes isn't as smooth as
Exchange/Outlook, but works (and isn't worm meat).

"He asked for all the hidden costs up front: maintenance, support, tape
drives, storage ... everything."

There was no backup included in the MS solution, and what "storage" are we
on about here?

Finally, while we (my company) concentrate our Notes servers at two or three
server farms around the country, you could clearly put your messaging
servers at any site with 200+ people, allow the smaller sites to access
whatever's closest on the network topology, and you would distribute your
risk, roll the support costs into existing costs, and gain distributed
redundant failover capacity. This works well for Notes,
free-software-solutions, and Exchange, and I presume it would work for
(shudder) Groupware.

That would be the kind of SMART move that would, say, make your company rank
among the ones that might lose an office to, say, a terrorist attack.

But you'd be ready for that, right?