CC3 to Vanilla....costing

[mcnallyfc]

Hi all

 

Towards the end of the year I have to present a case to our finance committee to move from CC3 to Vanilla network.

 

So I am currently looking to people who have already moved from CC3 to Vanilla and can help me fully appreciate what's needed cost wise.

 

We already have a good 1gbps network backbone and use our LEAs firewall. I have an initial basic purchase list to "recreate" what we have at moment with CC3. This includes:

 

-Server 2008 Licenses inc cals for the servers (to replace the Server 2003 SP2 we have with RM)

-1 x SCCM License inc cals (this will provide os/app deployment, remote control, wsus etc)

-Backup Exec Licenses for each server that needs it (already have some)

-MDT 2010 for image creation and linked to SCCM (free)

 

We will also add additional features such as new backup solution, exchange server, proxy server etc etc but at moment just want an idea of what's needed to budget for in the move to match what we have now. As I like to give the basic quote as well as the all signing and dancing one.

 

We pay our LEA for general support (so far very much underused) so that can be utilised, 2 local schools have already done this. If not then we could look at 3rd line support from external company for first year to cover our backs.

 

Any help appreciated as would like to nail the costs down early.....

Edited October 7, 2010 by mcnallyfc

[Psymon]

Would you not be better using the Microsoft Schools licensing? With each purchase of a Schools Desktop License you are entitled to whatever version of windows you like, office license + cal's. (Annual renewal)

 

You can also get the server licenses through this scheme at quite a reasonable price, as well as Microsoft Data Protection Manager for your backup needs, exchange licenses (CAL's on the school desktop licenses again) etc...

 

Simon

[3s-gtech]

Don't buy Server 2008 Licences -get R2! You must have a 64bit capable server.

[mcnallyfc]

Sorry my bad i meant Server 2008 R2! The 3 servers would all be 64bit capable.

 

Licensing is a big issue here, we have no schools or campus agreement and are purchasing licenses left right and centre. Problem is justifying the annual cost to them.....

 

However am i right in assuming that the desktop licenses under schools contain cal's for things such as servers, exchange, sccm? as in i wouldnt need to buy the cals along with the server licenses? If that is the case then that alone could justify the cost if we went ahead with the change.

 

Plus we wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 at same time so starts to make more sense.

[Butuz]

Don't forget to highlight that you can offset the money you need to expend now on your vanilla system against the money you will be saving by not having to pay for RM support or Server or Workstation licences in the future, as well as a comparison with how much it would cost to upgrade to CC4 as that would be the logical upgrade path for a CC3 school. CC3 (and MS XP / 2003) support ceases in 2014 so you would have to upgrade to something else then anyway.

 

Butuz

[Hightower]

As Butuz has said, you have two options as a CC3 school. You can go to Vanilla, or go to CC4 - you won't be able to stay CC3 much longer (well it'll get harder and harder to manage). Because of this, you can say CC4 would cost us 'X', Vanilla 'Y', so by going Vanilla we could potentially save 'Z'.

 

We went Vanilla at my last school but was ages ago so can't tell you about costings for it. Planning to do the same here too.

 

We looked into upgrading to CC4, and for ~300 machines, 3 servers (not counting member servers as don't need to) - all the commissioning, licencing etc etc was going to cost in the region of £18-20k. Vanilla, I'm looking at no more than £5k (MAX) but would expect it to be closer to £2-3k.

[mcnallyfc]

Problem we have is that the school probably wont accept the 11k cost per year that the schools agreement will cost us. They like to lease things and very rarely will pay out large amounts let alone an annual cost.

 

So ill have to price up the servers with cals along with SCCM ones as well. I'll give them the pricing for the cost with cal's and also how much saved by the desktop agreement.

[jsnetman]

Problem we have is that the school probably wont accept the 11k cost per year

 

We went for the schools agreement plus, where you buy the licences outright for the term of use, which is as long as you want them. We did this for windows 7 and office 2007. Downside being you can't upgrade to latest versions like office 2010. But we normally keep an operatiing system at least 6 years so you get real savings that way.

[teejay]

Depends on when you are going to do this, but the schools agreement will be moving next year (March possibly)to campus agreement style arrangement, whereby your licensing will be based on number of staff rather than number of computers. This is going to dramatically reduce the costs of a schools agreement for a lot of schools.