[oclug] [OT] supercomputers

[Robert Brockway]

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003, Matthew Wilcox wrote:

> On Sun, Nov 16, 2003 at 01:08:11PM -0500, Jon Earle wrote:
> > I suspect though, that the MTBF for PC units is lower, likely closer to
> > 5yrs.  With 200 PCs in a cluster (still a large cluster), that comes to
> > about 91 days between unit replacements.  (A 10yr MTBF would result in
> > replacement of a unit every 6 months.)
>
> I would imagine the MTBF of a PC is around 3 years.  If it's longer,
> the company is doing a disservice to its shareholders ;-)

I believe the 3 years replacement cycle used by most large firms is based
on a perceived need to upgrade hardware to cope with more demanding (MS)
software, not on the MTBF.  Most PC hard does have a MTBF of at least 5
years and a lot of ex-company PCs get a new lease of life and go on for
many years after they are decommissioned by companies.

So yes, these companies _are_ doing a disservice to share-holders.  One of
the reasons that so many of us argue in favour of thinclient solutions.
They really are cheaper in the long term.

Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert at timetraveller.org, zzbrock at uqconnect.net
Linux counter project ID #16440 (http://counter.li.org)
"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens" -Baha'u'llah