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corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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Folks, can you please share with me your ideas/suggestions on the best practices of upgrading desktop pc’s in the corporate level? What business criteria do I look into before I upgrade or replace a desktop PC apart from technology obsolescence. Howdo I rate that user X gets the top of the line and user Y gets the standard specs?

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corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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You have to categorize the user/use:

If the use is basic, say Wordprocessing, e-mail, some browsing, then standard specs.

If the use is intermediate, say all of the above + spreadsheet, some database use, etc, then the next level (say a faster processor and more RAM).

If the use is advanced, say all of number 2 + some heavy duty database use and/or app development, then the next level (say still faster processor and more RAM)

If CAD/CAM user, then you may want lots of RAM, multipleprocessors, large monitor and so on.

Again, the specs should be based on use, although in real life the head honchos wind up getting the expensive toys, whether they need it or not.

HTH.

corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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Here at CASCAP, Inc, we based our strategy on lessons learned at Sony Electronics, among other places. We looked for a middle of the road platform, tool-less chassis, super-strong tech support (same business day), and we made the best bet ever – identical machines, identical configurations. We chose Dell OptiPlex PCs, same configuration, ordered 5% extra as hot-swappable boxes, 128 MB RAM, 6 GB HD, and made sure that we’re all running NT4 and Office 2K. Order a strong PC and don’t differentiatebased on standard/top of the line unless you have a really strong business need (i.e. 3D CAD/CAM). Our biggest feat was ordering good, strong, expandable servers with tons of storage space and a good backup solution. (Veritas Backup Exec)

HTH,C. S. Penn

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corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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We’ve gone through various strategies, so far our present one seems to work the best. Presently we lease a machine for 3 years. The machines that are leased are split into 3 levels depending on the position of the person. A secretary gets a good middle of the line machine, usually with most of the latest technologies, but obviously she doesn’t need a 32 meg video card with 256 megs of RAM. Our CAD/CAM people get the top of the line, latest and greatest machines with the newest, best, processors, the best video cards, huge hard drives, huge monitors, etc. Most of the engineers and technical people get machines that fit between those two extremes.

We do buy only name brands (Dell, Compaq, HP) and at the end of 3 years they go away and we re-fit them with the newest version of the level they need.

Trying to keep old machines and/or upgrade because a secretary doesn’t need all that power just doesn’t work.

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I work for a non profit organization and money sometimes is tighter than with other organizations. I like the idea of having all the same systems on everyones desk, but that isn’t an option for us. We are a on a 3 year cycle for upgrading PC’s. This means 1/3 of our users get upgraded every year. By the third year the PC has been depreciated entirely off our books. I try to buy the PC’s every year so that they can last 3 years. That is asking alot in todays changing world, but we have done ok so far. The burden becomes swapping PC’s The desktop publishing people always need the faster machines, so they get upgraded and theirs go to another person. This is a bit more work to save a bit of money, but the new PC’s get to the people that really need them. Basically the machines I buy every year are the best I can get for the budget I have to work with. Sometimes I can just upgrade a motherboard and processor, but that is usually only a year extension at best on the machine. I have a 3 year full wa

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corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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Categorized the specs. you have on the existing computers. Anything that is below
the average computers specs. you can name
them as below specs. while the top categoy
would include those newer specs existing
in the market.

Again, this is verysubjective as to your
organization and main usage.
You might consider and PII machine as a standard machine and PIII machine as high end if you are in the development environment. But in a normal office, you might consider PII machines are high end and
vice versa.

Use it sparringly.

corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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We have a pretty simple solution. Each department has their own IT budget. All workstations are financially written off every three years. The IT department evaluate and recommend two workstation types low spec & high spec. This is currently 600MHz 64MB RAM low spec, and 733MHz 128MB RAM high spec.

Each department orders PC’s as and when they need to, their call. Invariably what happens is that the department will order high specification workstations, and pass on their slightly lower spec machines to less processor / memory intensive users.

Obviously, software will dictate the specification of a workstation, so you will need to make a recommendation each year of minimum spec based upon whatever upgrade plans you have for the forthcoming year or two.

Ultimately, let the business decide who gets what, they have a far better handle on their requirements then the IT department does.

corporate desktop pc upgrade strategy

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The most important thing is to define every year the technology operative time for each PC category. Example: In IT users it is very important the availability of the Top line technology, so it means that the Pc’s must be replaced every year. Uponthe frequency of new advanced Pc’s on the market is increasing, the next operative time will be 4 or 5 months.
This indicator TOT (Technology Operative Time) is different for each user category and must be deffined each time that IT Manager presents his Operative Plan.
As the company usually does not buy new computers each TOT due time, the best strategy will be to have an outsourcing company to provide by a monthly payment the last technology PC’s. There are in the market this kind of companies that can give you this service. One of the most important advantages is that your PC inventory is cero, this strategy will give you the opportunity to define a monthly value for this service like energy or building maintenaince or others.You can define this

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We’ve opted to lease Dell PCs on 36 month cycles, with installation, hardware maintenance and pickup services as part of the lease. Initially we had help desk by phone services but this has not been used much. We find that the dollar for dollar costis somewhat higher than purchase each 3 years, but not excessively. Additionally, we avoid the work load on staff to replace equipment – some of which would just be boxing, etc. Each cycle so far we find that we get higher end technology for less cost per year, as the hardware costs continue to drop. We also avoid much of the PC envy that we used to have to manage. Our users are not high end; e.g., CAD/CAM, but they do want the “best” to cover multip apps open at all times. As one other respondent noted, we do end up providing the highest end equipment to the executives, who demand the status as well as the speed, but our other production and research people have their needs met as well.

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