Costs of University Standard Hardware

When comparing the cost of procuring hardware from the University preferred supplier to prices offered commercially it is important to take in to account several factors that influence the final price of the unit. ITS and the University preferred supplier have bundled together the costs of several after sales requirements into the total price so that it is easier for University staff to budget for devices and be aware of the total cost of acquiring a new PC. A list of these considerations follows:

1. Included in the price is an installation service by Datacom at a cost of $180. A migration to a new computer has been averaged to take around 3 hours to be complete so this outlay equates to a rate of $60/hr, much lower than the industry standard of approx $130/hr.
2. There is an additional $140 cost for the after sales services of asset tagging (serial number, RAM installed, end warranty recorded etc), registering the device with IBM Global finance (which can be very time consuming), electrical cable testing and delivery. Other companies charge up to $100 just for PC delivery with none of the above work done. It is University policy that all devices that are plugged in to University outlets must be asset tagged and electrical tested.
3. Image stability. There is a large amount of effort put in by ITS to ensure that the operating system that is delivered to your desktop is stable and reliable. There is a direct link between the hardware that is supplied in a PC and the stability of the operating system running it. With this in mind ITS works closely with our hardware vendors to identify models that will have an extended production life (at least 18 months) and work to create a stable Standard Operating Environment (SOE) on each identified piece of hardware. The benefit of having extended life products is that this compatibility and integrity testing does need to occur at such regular intervals as would be required with shorter production lifespan computers resulting in a greater cost to the University as a whole for the maintenance of a stable image.
4. Account management is supplied by Datacom. This involves 5 - 10 staff who touch the University everyday in some way (installations, warehousing, operations and product flow). This means that we are developing a strong business relationship with our preferred supplier and they in turn are developing a core stable of support specialists who understand the University and the complexity involved with doing business with us.
5. Stocking service provided by Datacom. Datacom maintain a large volume of stock on behalf of the University hence they are able to fulfil our desire to deliver ordered PCs within several business days. If Datacom did not maintain this stock level there would be a minimum of 2 weeks before Datacom would be able to deliver on an order. The downside of this is that the stock is maintained by Datacom and not Lenovo and therefore it has effectively been purchased by Datacom and is being on sold to the University so when Lenovo offer a reduced price or a special on a model that happens to be one of our standard models Datacom are often not in a position to be able to match Lenovo's offering. In these cases our standard prices will be higher than Lenovo's special.

It is important to note when comparing prices that all of this additional work is included in the price you are being quoted for the unit. This work is mandatory before a PC can be connected to the University network and due to working closely with ITS our preferred supplier has developed procedural efficiencies in their process when a unit is procured through them and it will be more costly to perform these same tasks on a PC obtained through another channel.

Part of the testing process done by ITS includes the price of a unit and the service which will be provided on installation of the device. Intensive testing done by ITS has determined that the IBM/Lenovo hardware were the best option at the time of decision. This decision will be regularly placed under review to ensure that we are still providing the best recommendation we can to the University with regard to hardware options and we are continually working with our preferred supplier and hardware vendors to provide the best price possible with the requirements outlined above.

Additional to this ITS together with a group of University staff from several faculties worked to determine which hardware company would be the best option to provide the University with a second vendor choice. After much testing not only of the hardware being offered but also the warranty process offered, the commitment of the vendor to work with the University to provide a continuous service, delivery time frames and many other items Acer were chosen as the hardware provider to be included alongside Lenovo in being standard University equipment. As with our evaluation of Lenovo hardware ITS will continually evaluate Acer's standard offerings to ensure we are getting the best service and hardware price that we can within the requirements of the University.