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Financial

Total Cost of Ownership

TCO

Full lifecycle cost of owning and operating IT infrastructure including capex, opex, cooling, space, and labour.

Full Definition

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for data centre infrastructure encompasses all costs over the asset lifetime: capital expenditure (hardware, installation, fit-out), operational expenditure (power, cooling, maintenance, staff), facility costs (space, connectivity), and eventual decommissioning. Liquid cooling has a higher initial capex but can reduce TCO by lowering PUE, enabling higher rack density (reducing floor space), and extending equipment life through lower operating temperatures.

Also Known As

total cost of ownership

Source Reference

Uptime Institute — Data Centre TCO Methodology

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