Mindcraft is a registered trademark of Mindcraft, Inc. October 26, 1998Copyright 1998 Mindcraft,...

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October 26, 1998

Copyright 1998 Mindcraft, Inc. Mindcraft is a registered trademark of Mindcraft, Inc.

A Strategy for Buying Directory ServersA Strategy for Buying Directory Servers

Bruce WeinerMindcraft, Inc.170 Knowles Drive, Suite 206Los Gatos, CA 95032(408) 364-2860 Fax: (408) 364-2862www.mindcraft.combruce@mindcraft.com

Presented at the Electronic Messaging Association Solution Summit 98

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ContentsContents

Big PictureAlternative SolutionsTOVSummary

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Big PictureBig Picture

Buy the product that will be the most valuable for your company– Cost– Features– Performance– Relation to applications using it– Value it can return

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Alternative SolutionsAlternative Solutions

Magazine ReviewsFeature AnalysisProduct Price AnalysisPrice/PerformanceTotal Cost of Ownership (TCO)Total Opportunity Value (TOV)

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Magazine ReviewsMagazine Reviews

Quick way to get an overview, if the product you want was reviewed

Is the reviewer competent or biased?

Reviewer does not know how you will use it

Benchmarks are typically weak technically

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Feature AnalysisFeature Analysis

Learn what the product can do for you

A feature may give you an idea for a new use

Tells you if the product can meet your minimum requirements

No cost analysis No value

analysis No risk analysis

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Product Price AnalysisProduct Price Analysis

Learn purchase price

Learn support price and terms

Learn update price and terms

Does not cover all costs

Does not cover how many copies you will need

No value analysis

No risk analysis

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Price/PerformancePrice/Performance

Better than either price or performance alone

If benchmark results are based on it, gives you configuration ideas

Does not cover all costs

How will it perform in your company?

No value analysis No risk analysis

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Total Cost of OwnershipTotal Cost of Ownership

Should cover all acquisition and ownership costs Hardware, software,

networking, facilities Personnel,

administration, support, maintenance, training

Treats product as a sink for $, not a generator of value

Minimum feature analysis

No performance analysis

No value or risk analysis

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Total Opportunity ValueTotal Opportunity Value™ Explained Explained

What is Total Opportunity Value?TOV™ componentsHow to compute TOVUsing TOV to make purchase

decisions

Total Opportunity Value and TOV are trademarks of Mindcraft, Inc.

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What is Total Opportunity Value?What is Total Opportunity Value?

A return-on-investment-based financial analysis method– Includes TCO and more– Based on classic financial analysis

methods– Opportunity cost evaluation– Focus on value the product returns,

not just overhead costs

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TOV ComponentsTOV Components

Financial assumptionsTotal Cost of OwnershipValue analysisPerformance analysisRisk analysis

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Financial AssumptionsFinancial Assumptions

Use assumptions consistent with corporate investment assumptions– Analysis period– Cost of capital– Average salaries by position– Average salary increases over analysis

period– Others

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Total Cost of OwnershipTotal Cost of Ownership

All costs to acquire and own a product over the analysis period– Directory server software cost for all

servers and clients– Additional servers and clients cost– Additional networking cost– Hardware and software support cost– Maintenance and upgrade cost

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Total Cost of Ownership Total Cost of Ownership (continued)(continued)

– Cost of additional personnel– Training cost– User support cost– Down-time cost– User productivity cost or benefit– Additional security cost

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Value AnalysisValue Analysis

Look at all values directory server deployment gives

Look at values each feature yields– Increased revenue– Reduced costs– Improved user productivity– Improved reliability

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Value Analysis Value Analysis (continued)(continued)

– Improved security– Better customer relations– Better supplier relations– Reduced cost of developing and

maintaining applications– New applications you can do because

of features (include their TOVs)

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Performance AnalysisPerformance Analysis

Evaluate performance in the deployed environment– Servers– Networking– Clients– Workload

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Measuring Directory PerformanceMeasuring Directory Performance

User simulation– One client system/simulated user

• Record & playback tool - WinRunner

– One system simulates several client• Load generation tool - LoadRunner

– Measurements not in directory terms– Difficult to build simulations for millions

of entries in a directory

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Measuring Directory Performance Measuring Directory Performance (continued)(continued)

Benchmarks– One system simulates many clients

• DirectoryMark– Easy script generation with standard options or

your own– Use your own data– Rigorous run rules– Measurements in directory terms– Lower benchmarking costs– Test millions of entries in a directory

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Risk AnalysisRisk Analysis

Look at everything that can go wrong– Cost of doing nothing– Risk of implementation success– Risk of increased network load– Mean time between failure– Risk of increased down-time cost– Risk of increased maintenance cost

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Risk Analysis Risk Analysis (continued)(continued)

– Risk of personnel cost increases– Risk of user productivity gain or loss– Risk of customer alienation– Risk of supplier alienation– Risk of increased support cost– Risk of increased security cost

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Computing TOVComputing TOV

Total Opportunity Value =

v (valuev * (1 - riskv)) -

c (costc * (1 - riskc))

All values and costs are net present value cash flows using the cost of capital and corporate discount rate for the analysis period.

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Total Opportunity ValueTotal Opportunity Value

Covers all acquisition and ownership costs

Covers feature benefits Covers performance Covers value analysis Covers risk analysis Fair comparisons with

other investments

Not simple to do

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Using TOV to Make DecisionsUsing TOV to Make Decisions

Which directory server should you buy?– The one with the highest TOV

Which investment should your company make?– The one with the highest TOV

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SummarySummary

TOV looks at all aspects of a directory server deployment to determine value

TOV is the fairest way to compare directory servers

Only TOV can fairly compare a directory server investment to other investments