This whitepaper considers some of the costs that are often overlooked, and suggests some best practices and tips on how to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) for industrial control networks. After purchasing a switch, a variety of factors need to be considered throughout the product life cycle, including installation, configuration, operations, maintenance, downtime, and ongoing technical support. After taking all of these factors into consideration, network administrators are in a much better position to be able to judge the true TCO of a project and make the right decisions to ensure that the TCO is kept as low as possible.
The Challenges for Increasingly Complex Networks
The time from the start of a project until it is up-and-running can be broken down into broadly six different stages. The challenge for network administrators is to have a deep understanding of each stage of the project and determine the key features that a device should include or support that are beneficial for that particular stage as well as to what extent these features will be beneficial in the future when the needs of the network change. These features and benefits often don’t appear in the hardware specifications of a product, but are essential to keep in mind when purchasing products.
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