Datacenter virtualization includes server, network and storage virtualizationtechniques and products. The concept behind virtualization is to allow one physical device to appear as multiple devices, reducing hardware, energy, space and support costs to the organization. For more information on the concepts behind virtualization, see CoSN's EdTechNext Report on Virtualization, available to CoSN members.

Because a big benefit from virtualization is in energy savings, these aspects of datacenter virtualization are covered under CoSN's Green Computing website.

The eGov Monitor provides an overview of the TCO advantages of virtualization and consolidation in their July 27, 2009, article, "Virtualisation and the other Green Computing initiative."

VMware, a major server virtualization software provider has produced a vendor white paper entitled "Reducing Server Total Cost of Ownershipwith VMware Virtualization Software" which addresses many of the TCO factors of server ownership and looks at ROI.

You would be using cloud computing if your datacenter were moved to a remote location, virtualized with other organizations' datacenters and supported by the service provider. A good description can be found in the eSchool News special report, Cloud Computing: The Economic Imperative; Why this paradigm shift in IT isn't just lofty thinking, By Cara Erenben.

SaaS vs. On Premise TCO Calculator
From IT Business Edge
The purpose of this calculator (Not tested or validated by CoSN) is to let you quickly compare the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to the TCO of an on-premise solution. The values this calculator provides are approximations, and can in no way obviate the need for a careful cost/benefit analysis. But they can serve as a first step in determining whether the potential delta between the two approaches is large enough to warrant further investigation.

The concept behind virtual desktop computing and various thin client implementations is to reduce or eliminate the computing and file requirements on the end user device and move the functionality to a server. Remembering that a robust network is required, these approaches offer some interesting TCO reduction promise with centralized user support and better management of software and data. From a hardware perspective, the end user devices are generally less expensive than a full-function client computer and arguably have a longer useful life, but of course require network and centralized server and storage resources.

CoSN's Green Computing Leadership Initiative includes information and resources on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

Microsoft White Paper -  VDI TCO Analysis for Office Worker Environments
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1171d468-e95e-4091-90df-fdf6548f6564

In this white paper, Microsoft contends that VDI may not have a lower TCO than properly managed PC's running XP or Windows 7. They include power usage estimates in the calculation which are a bit on the low side. Overall, this is a really good TCO evaluation and worth reading.

CoSN Exchange Forum Group - Thin-client technologies
This CoSN member group discussion contains a spreadsheet developed and provided by Madison City Schools to calculate the NPV cost of alternative deployments of end-user computing.