What is Total Cost of Ownership?

Total cost of ownership (TCO) is the total cost of a computer asset throughout its lifecycle, from acquisition cost, management and upgrading by technical staff and finally to its disposal.

Thin clients cost 35% to 65% less per year to manage and operate than a traditional PC and 60% less to purchase. According to research by the Gartner Group, the average cost of managing and supporting a standard PC costs £29k over five years whereas a thin client costs £18k across the same period. This means a typical installation of 50 network nodes equates to a saving of £550k over five years.

Thin clients also eliminate the security and virus risks within an organisation normally associated with a traditional PC, as thin client desktops do not store or execute programmes locally and do not allow downloading of files. Although this is a benefit, it is also a significant hidden saving when considering the cost of a virus epidemic in a typical office environment.

Test drive the Netvoyager TCO calculator