I ran across an interesting article on the Linux Terminal Server Project in schools. A school in Utah reports annual savings of $24,000 by having moved to linux terminal server away from Microsoft workstations. Those savings include software licencing costs, hardware upgrades, and support costs.
From the article:
Grace Lutheran’s installation stats:
- >60 Pentium 1 and Pentium II computers for 250 total students
- One computer lab of 25 computers
- 9 classrooms with an average of four computers in each classroom
- Actual cost of Linux thin client conversion for all 60 computers: under $15,000
- Estimated annual maintenance cost: $3,600
- Comparable cost of PC/Windows installation: $50,000
- Estimated annual maintenance cost of a PC/Windows solution: $24,000
- Net yearly savings, based on four-year replacement cycle: $29,150