The total cost of ownership (TCO) is the measure we use to compare storage infrastructure platforms. The TCO incorporates the purchase and support costs of the storage solution, along with ongoing operational and management expenses. The operational efficiency built into the storage stack can significantly affect the bottom line. Once you have procured and implemented the platform, the operational costs for administration and maintenance can easily balloon to between x2 and x4 of the CapEx. A solution that streamlines and automates routine maintenance tasks can increase uptime and save the service provider significant time and money.

In this limited study, we use the results from the previous operational scenarios and examine the operational expense of the two platform options, using the three scenarios to provide a hypothetical TCO comparison. In addition to operational costs, TCO must also be broken down into acquisition costs (CapEx), which is address later in this document.

Most service providers require the TCO analysis, alongside a return on investment (ROI) investigation, to justify their business case to move from a traditional storage model to a VMware HCI solution. However, understanding how vSAN differentiates itself from traditional storage solutions is key to understanding the value proposition, and therefore the business case.

When choosing a storage platform, considering all costs, both acquisition-related and operational, is essential. The service provider must account for not only the cost of acquiring the hardware, licenses, and software, but also the costs associated with the time a system administrator devotes to maintenance and management tasks within each environment. Since system administrator time can be more valuable when used on strategic IT initiatives that deliver a competitive edge for their organization, instead of routine maintenance, it is always beneficial to reduce the operational overhead of administration and its associated cost. Because these operational costs add up over time, they can become a significant proportion of the overall costs for a data center. As a result, when comparing the TCO of vSAN with traditional storage arrays, both CapEx and OpEx are impacted and must be accounted for as part of the business case.