Low SAN Pricing sometimes confused with low SAN Cost

Confusing SAN Pricing with SAN Cost can be expensive

From a Buyer’s perspective: Price is what you initially pay for an item. Cost is what it takes to maintain the item until it reaches Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) also referred to as Life Expectancy (see UL rating to get MTBF). Example: Company A purchases a SAN system (whose Hard Drives have an MTBF rating of 3 years) for a price of $50,000.00. Company B purchases a SAN system (whose MLC NAND drives have an MTBF rating of 6 years) for a price of $80,000.00. Based on the MTBF ratings Company A will have to purchase their surveillance system twice for an actual cost of $100,000.00 over the 6 years. Then you factor the time value of money on your savings for your final evaluation on Price versus Cost. So it is important to evaluate MTBF as well as other overhead costs (increased administration, training, etc.) in order to make the most economical purchase.

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