1/18/2019 VMware TCO Comparison Calculator

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VMware TCO Comparison Calculator

See how Total Cost of Ownership is lower with VMware server virtualization and
private cloud solutions compared to Microsoft

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Additional Total
VMware VMs number VMware Microsoft
per processor of VMs
cost per VM cost per VM
10 5000

$14,815 $43,617
$74,075 Total cost $218,086 Total cost

2500 Total savings Operational expenses over 3 years

5

VMware - $34,326

66%
11 55 Microsoft - $117,536

Download this graphic

Executive summary
Based on your inputs, the 3-year TCO of vSphere Enterprise Plus is $74,075, 66% lower than
Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center TCO of $218,086.

Table 1 - Total Cost of Ownership

Total Cost of Ownership by type, for the deployment conditions you selected

Capital Expenses VMware Microsoft

Servers $8,050 $32,200

Storage $2,800 $4,000

Networking $6,500 $6,500

Virtualization platform software $13,165 $14,428

Host Windows Server & SQL Server $9,234 $36,936

licenses

Third-party software licenses $0 $6,486

Total CapEx cost $39,749 $100,550

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Operating expenses
(3 years)

Power and cooling $2,095 $8,376

Data center space $11,907 $11,907

Virtualization platform software $8,691 $10,821

support

Windows Server & SQL Server host $6,926 $27,702

software support

Third-party software support $0 $3,600

IT administrative time cost $4,708 $52,989

Third-party SW integration $2,141

Total OpEx cost $34,326 $117,536

Totals

Total cost $74,075 $218,086

Cost per workload VM $14,815 $43,617

% VMware savings over Microsoft 66%

Solution

Graph 1 - Operating Cost Breakdown

By comparing the VMware solution to Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center using cost-per-VM as
the metric, we can see the capital and operating expense breakdown. The cost of third-party software needed to fill
feature gaps with the VMware solution is added to Microsoft costs.

$45,500

$2,445 Third-party
OpEx
$39,000 CapEx

$32,500
$22,359

$26,000

$19,500

$13,000
$6,865
$18,813

$6,500
$7,950

$0
vSphere Enterprise Plus Microsoft

Table 2 - VMware Product Feature Comparison

Virtualization and Private vSphere vSphere vCloud Suite Microsoft Windows

Cloud Features with Ops. Server Hyper-V and
Mgt. System Center

ESS ESS+ STD ENT+ ENT+ STD ADV ENT

Server virtualization

vMotion live migration  

High Availability  

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Deduplicated VM backups  

VM replication   Incomplete

VM Fault Tolerance     3rd-party required

Storage vMotion    

Storage APIs     Incomplete

Virtual Volumes     Incomplete

VM encryption      

Long-distance live migration       Incomplete

VM load balancing (DRS)      

Storage load balancing (Storage       Incomplete

DRS)

Distributed Virtual Switch       Incomplete

I/O Controls (Network & Storage)       Incomplete

Health monitoring &         OMS required

performance analytics

Capacity management &         OMS required

optimization

Operations dashboard         OMS required

Cloud management          

Cloud Cost Showback           Missing

Automation

Multi-cloud automation & self-             OMS required, Azure-

service only

Cross-cloud application               OMS required, Azure-

provisioning & monitoring only

Log analytics     OMS required

Definition and scope

In evaluating the cost of a virtualization solution, it is essential to use a metric that not only accounts for the cost to acquire the
virtualization software and the physical infrastructure it requires, but also includes the time needed to operate the solution.

Because centralized management is a fundamental component of any virtualization deployment, hardware and software costs
associated with related management products, such as VMware vCenter Server or Microsoft System Center, also need to be included.
Moreover, software comparisons must be made accurately across the features each product provides; if feature gaps exist,
supplementary third-party software costs must be included for a true comparison.

As shown below, VMware defines total cost of ownership (TCO) as the sum of all these cost items separated into capital expenditures
(CapEx) and operating expenditures (OpEx) over a selected period, and cost per virtual machine (VM) as that amount divided by the
number of virtual machines in the environment.

Capital Expenses Equation

     Host hardware server cost

+   Host networking hardware costs
+   Host storage costs
+   Virtualization software license costs
+   Host operating system license costs
+   Applicable third-party license costs
=   Total CapEx costs

Operating Expenses Equation

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     Power and cooling costs
+   Data center space costs
+   Virtualization software support costs
+   Host and guest operating system support costs
+   Software-as-a-Service subscription costs
+   Third-party software support costs
+   Third-party software integration costs
+   IT administrative time costs
+   VM migration costs (if applicable)
=   Total OpEx costs

Cost Per Virtual Machine Equation

     Total CapEx costs

+   Total OpEx costs(over selected period)
=   Total cost of ownership
/   Number of virtual machines
=   Total cost of ownership per virtual machine

Ultimately, enterprises care about how much it will cost to run the total set of their business applications and how efficiently they are
using infrastructure. Therefore, in a virtualized IT environment, it is important to see the costs associated with both purchase and
maintenance of the system, including the IT administration time necessary to operate and manage the platforms. Cost per VM as a
metric also provides a more condensed view of the total costs.

The VMware TCO Comparison Calculator examines these metrics across two different scenarios. The first scenario is a net-new
deployment, where the Calculator assumes no existing infrastructure and calculates the total costs associated with deploying a new,
fully functional data center running VMware or Microsoft virtualization solutions. The second scenario is a software upgrade, where the
Calculator calculates the cost of upgrading an existing vSphere deployment to a private cloud platform based on either VMware
vCloud Suite or Microsoft Hyper-V and System Center.

The Calculator performs a straightforward TCO calculation by modeling a comprehensive set of costs for deploying, managing, and
operating a virtualized infrastructure or private cloud, with the exception of hardware equipment depreciation. This TCO (defined as
CapEx plus OpEx, as shown above) and the cost per VM are simple and accurate metrics to estimate the upfront and ongoing
expenditures required.

Background assumptions

Appendix A: Detailed Breakdown of the TCO Calculations

Table 3 - Server Hardware

Number of Servers VMware Microsoft

# CPUs for workload and 2 8
management VMs

# Servers for workload and 1 4

management VMs

Cost of Servers

Cost of virtualization hosts (including $8,050 $32,200

support)

Totals

Total cost for Servers $8,050 $32,200

Table 4 - Storage Hardware

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HBAs VMware Microsoft

Storage type NAS NAS

Number of HBAs 0 0

Cost per HBA $1,250 $1,250

Total HBA cost $0 $0

SAN Switches

Number of SAN switches 0 0

Cost per SAN switch $8,000 $8,000

Total SAN switch cost $0 $0

Storage Systems

Number of storage GBs 700 1,000

Average amortized cost for storage $4.00 $4.00

(per GB)

Storage system cost $2,800 $4,000

Totals

Total storage cost $2,800 $4,000

Table 5 - Networking Hardware

Networking Hardware VMware Microsoft

Number of servers 1 4

Number of network ports per server 2 2

Total number of server network ports 2 8

Number of ports per network switch 24 24

Number of network switches needed 1 1

Cost of network switch $6,500 $6,500

Totals

Total network cost $6,500 $6,500

Table 6 - Power, Cooling, and Real Estate Costs

Power and Cooling VMware Microsoft

Total server operating power (Watts) 335 1,340

Total server cooling power (Watts) 419 1,675

Total cost for power and cooling $2,095 $8,376

Data Center Space

Total number of racks 1 1

Total area of data center consumed by 27 27

servers (sq feet)

Average fully burdened data center $441 $441

cost per sq foot

Total cost of real estate $11,907 $11,907

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Table 7 - VMware Software Costs

VMware Product Number Lic. Production Support & Total Initial 3 yrs License
of Units Unit Subscription cost (3 yr) License Production and SnS
Cost Cost SnS

vSphere Enterprise Plus 2 $3,495 $2,307 $6,990 $4,615 $11,605

Total cost of Virtualization Software       $6,990 $4,615 $11,605

Net Cost of Virtualization Server      

Software

vCenter Server Standard 1 $6,175 $4,076 $6,175 $4,076 $10,251

Total Cost of Management       $6,175 $4,076 $10,251

Software

VMware management software 0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

upgrade credit for current vCenter
Server Standard

Net Cost of Management Software       $0 $0 $0

Net Cost of Virtualization Platform       $13,165 $8,691 $21,856

Software

Table 8 - Windows OS and SQL Server licensing cost for VMware solution

Windows OS and SQL Licensing Number Lic. Software Total Initial 3 yrs License and
of Units Unit Assurance Unit License Software Software
Cost cost (3 yr) Cost Assurance Assurance

Windows Server Datacenter core 12 $770 $577 $9,234 $6,926 $16,160

pairs

SQL Server Standard 0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Total Cost Microsoft Windows OS       $9,234 $6,926 $16,160

and SQL Server Host Software

Table 9 - Microsoft Solution - Windows OS and SQL Server Host Licensing Costs

Windows OS and SQL Licensing Number Lic. Software Total Initial 3 yrs License and
of Units Unit Assurance Unit License Software Software
Cost cost (3 yr) Cost Assurance Assurance

Windows Server Datacenter core 48 $770 $577 $36,936 $27,702 $64,638

pairs

Total Cost Microsoft Windows OS       $36,936 $27,702 $64,638

and SQL Server Host Software

Table 10 - Microsoft Solution - Virtualization Platform Software Costs

  Number Lic. SA/Support Total 3 yrs License Software Software

of Units Unit Unit cost Initial Production and Integration Integration
Cost (Production License SA/Support SA/Support Costs(%) Costs($)
3 yrs) Cost

System Center 48 $301 $225 $14,428 $10,821 $25,249    

Datacenter core pairs

Microsoft       $14,428 $10,821 $25,249    

Virtualization and

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Management
Software Costs

Stratus everRun 1 $6,486 $3,600 $6,486 $3,600 $10,086 33% $2,141

Enterprise Edition

Third-party       $6,486 $3,600 $10,086   $2,141

Supplemental
Software Costs

Total Cost of       $20,914 $14,421 $35,335   $2,141

Virtualization
Platform Software

Table 11 - Common Operating Scenario Costs

Fully-loaded cost of IT Administrator time = $64.73 per VMware Microsoft Total Total VMware Microsoft
hour cost per cost per events events Scenario Scenario
event event per 3- per 3- Costs Costs
year year
period, period,
VMware Microsoft

Initial installation of the cloud platform         $197 $812

Install first vSphere host $164.13 $0.00 1 0    

Install remaining vSphere hosts $3.11 $0.00 1 0    

Install vCenter $22.39 $0.00 1 0    

Install vRealize Log Insight $7.82 $0.00 1 0    

Install first Hyper-V host $0.00 $280.33 0 1    

Install remaining Hyper-V hosts $0.00 $7.93 0 4    

Install SCVMM $0.00 $98.72 0 1    

Install SCOM $0.00 $108.97 0 1    

Install SCCM $0.00 $151.08 0 1    

Install SCDPM $0.00 $141.08 0 1    

Apply a hypervisor/OS patch to all cloud nodes         $3,728 $14,629

Configure patching prerequisites $0.00 $28.32 1 1    

Validate patches and coordinate with tenant app $205.34 $265.78 18 54    

owners

Deploy patches $1.74 $4.60 18 54    

Adding new volumes and redistributing VM storage $4.73 $14.13 10 10 $47 $141

Create/deploy VM templates (unencrypted)         $8 $11

Create VM template $2.93 $1.80 2 2    

Deploy VM template $0.29 $0.83 10 10    

Create/deploy VM templates (encrypted)         $18 $49

Configure prerequisites $5.07 $12.35 2 2    

Create encrypted WS2016 template $2.77 $7.08 1 1    

Deploy encrypted WS2016 template $0.29 $1.13 8 8    

Create encrypted WS2008 R2 template $2.77 $0.00 0 0    

Deploy encrypted WS2008 R2 template $0.29 $2.73 2 2    

Configure and maintain log file monitoring and         $710 $1,419

analysis

Configure prerequisites $1.62 $1.67 1 1    

Monitor logs $0.16 $0.32 4,380 4,380    

Additional Support cost $299.00 $499.00   72 $0 $35,928

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Totals            

Total Operating Scenario Costs         $4,708 $52,989

Appendix B: Common Hardware Assumptions for both VMware and Microsoft

Table 12 - Hardware Assumptions

Data Center Server Profile Server A (2 CPU, 64GB RAM)

Virtualization host  

# CPU sockets 2

# cores per CPU socket 12

RAM Memory (GB) 64

# 10 Gbps network ports 2

Rack size (U) 1

Server cost (USD) $7,000

3 years support and maintenance cost (as a percentage of original purchase price) 15%

Data Center Storage Profile

Number of ports per SAN switch 24

Number of HBAs per server 2

Unit cost of an HBA $1,250

Unit cost of SAN switch $8,000

Cost of FC SAN disk storage ($/GB) $6.00

Cost of iSCSI SAN disk storage ($/GB) $5.00

Cost of NAS disk storage ($/GB) $4.00

Cost of vSAN storage ($/GB) $2.00

Average disk space capacity per VM(GB) 100

Data Center Server Networking Profile

Number of ports per network switch 24

Unit cost of network switch $6,500

Data Center Real Estate

Total number of usable U per rack 24

Measurement unit for space Square Feet

Area occupied by single rack (sq ft) 27.0

Capital cost for facilities data center space build-out, including power and cooling (per square foot) $1,150

Average weighted depreciation to use for build-out and equipment (in years) 10

Cost for the space (lease, rent, mortgage) per square foot per year $32

Average fully burdened data center cost per square foot per year $147

Data Center Server Power and Cooling

Price of electricity ($/kWh) for the data center facilities $0.11

Operating power (in Watts) per server 500

Steady-state constant used to convert nameplate power consumption to steady state 0.67

Estimated cooling load factor (Watts of cooling electricity needed to dissipate 1W of heat) 0.8

Airflow redundancy required to cool the data center 25%

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Current airflow de-rating (percentage available for cooling) 80%

Data Center Operating Hours

Hours per day 24

Days per week 7

Weeks per year 52

Return to top

Chosen Features Edit

1. Infrastructure deployment
Creating a new infrastructure

2. Currency

USD

3. Number of Virtual Machines

4. Product edition

vSphere Enterprise Plus

5. Virtualization host type

Server A

6. Storage type

NAS

7. & 8. Infrastructure costs

Medium Low

9. & 10. VM density & density advantage

5 1

11. Time frame for comparison (years)

Show Detailed Report

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