2003 American Power Conversion. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced, photocopied, transmitted, or
stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright owner. www.apc.com Rev 2003-1
4
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Lifecycle Costs
·
Availability
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Maintenance / Serviceability
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Manageability
·
Adaptability / Scalability
For each theme area, the need, root causes, and solution requirements are presented in tabular form. The
highest priority problems are listed first under each theme. The priority was determined by combining
number of mentions weighted by priority as expressed by the respondents.
Lifecycle Cost Imperatives
Imperative
Underlying problems
Solution Requirements
Vendor-neutral racks
Proprietary racks result in higher costs
due to "unique" requirements imposed by
IT equipment manufactures.
Difficulty with mergers and integrations
Vendor-neutral rack manufacturer with
economies of scale and guaranteed
universal compatibility with all IT
equipment.
Pre-engineered solutions that eliminate
and/or simplify most planning and
engineering.
Accelerate speed of deployment
The time and work involved in server
migrations and technology refreshes are
costly both in downtime and labor.
Pre-engineered time saving solutions
that eliminate and/or simplify planning
and installation.
The survey found the lifecycle cost imperatives were the most important requirement, particularly for
respondents from top level management in their organizations.
The survey revealed that most racks sold by server manufacturers are less likely to be compatible with
competitor's equipment. This is a problem given that most respondents preferred to standardize on one
rack for a uniform and consistent look in the data center or network room as well as to eliminate the
learning curve of a different rack.
