Proposal of Computer Laboratory for Business Students

Lecturer: Muhammad Khawar

Prepared by: Farrukh (021-11-17892)

IT for Managers Proposal of Computer Lab

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Table of Contents
1 Key assumptions 2 Computer systems and hardware components 3 Software components 4 Costing Analysis 3 3 6 8

IT for Managers Proposal of Computer Lab

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Key assumptions
The budgetary proposals for computer lab have been prepared on following assumptions:

50 branded computer systems (workstations / PCs) required. Hardware cost required with reasoning. Provide software cost. Networking cost. Per unit (system) cost analysis required.

Computer systems and hardware components

1.1 Machine selection (Machine Brand)

The thorough study of web shopping sites and computer market, keeping in view the knowledge provided by the Professor, I realize market is being captured mostly by two Brands and the scope of interest of buyers lies within those brands. They are: 1. 2. Hewlett-Packard (formally HP), and Dell.

There were other brands of course like Compact, IBM Lenovo with specs higher than that of HP and Dell, on same cost. I did some research on them as well just to make myself clear. Usually these systems dont have reliability like the ones of HP or Dell. Well Compact could be an exception to this rule. But Compact usually dont manufacture full branded PC, rather they had a merger with HP and named their systems HP-Compaq. These circumstances facilitated the selection of HP. With a goal in mind to find the appropriate brand for business students, I started my research on more practical bases. In half an hour I was sure I will go For HPCompaq. The Reason lies in cost off-course. The brand named Dell turned out to be a bit expensive. No matter which machine I choose the cost difference between it and an HP-Compaq with same configuration turned out to be in four figures. The Dell

Opti-plex with a Core 2 duo

3 GB RAM costs 52,000 PKR, while the same

configuration with HP-Compaq DX2390MT costs 32,000 PKR. Here are the Specs (configuration) of both machines: PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE 2 Duo E5400 2.7GHZ MOTHERBOARD : INTEL G31 EXPRESS CHIPSET MEMORY : 3GB DDRIII - 800BUS HARD DRIVE : 250GB 3.5" SATA OPTICAL DRIVE : DVD-WRITER SATA ACCESSORIES : KEYBOARD & MOUSE FORM FACTOR : MICRO TOWER HP COMPAQ DX2390MT
Courtesy From Galaxy Computers

TOTAL

RS.32,500

OPTIPLEX D780

PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE 2 DUO E5700 2.93GHZ MOTHERBOARD : INTEL MEMORY : 3GB DDRIII HARD DRIVE : 500GB 3.5" SATA OPTICAL DRIVE : DVD-WRITER SATA ACCESSORIES : KEYBOARD & MOUSE FORM FACTOR : MICRO TOWER TOTAL

RS. 52,000

Courtesy From Galaxy Computers

The Only Difference I could have seen was the Hard Drive. But for a Computer Lab for students 250 GB Hard drive was more than enough. Just for the same of research I moved further and came across two other systems with following specs: PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE i3 550 3.20GHZ 4M CACHE MOTHERBOARD : INTEL MEMORY : 4GB DDRIII HARD DRIVE : 500GB 3.5" SATA OPTICAL DRIVE : DVD-WRITER SATA ACCESSORIES : KEYBOARD & MOUSE FORM FACTOR : MICRO TOWER OPTIPLEX D980
Courtesy From Galaxy Computers

TOTAL

RS. 62,500

And,

PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE i5 2400 3.10GHZ TURBO UPTO 3.40 6M CACHE MOTHERBOARD : INTEL Q67 EXPRESS CHIPSET MEMORY : 3GB DDRIII HARD DRIVE : 500GB 3.5" SATA OPTICAL DRIVE : DVD-WRITER SATA ACCESSORIES : KEYBOARD & MOUSE FORM FACTOR : MICRO TOWER HP ELITE 8200 MT TOTAL
Courtesy From Galaxy Computers

RS. 59,700

The last machine was a mouthwatering one but then but a Core i5 3.10 GHZ will be more than enough for a computer lab of business students. And it will be wastage of around 30k per PC. So with no further delay I decided to have the HP-Compaq DX2390MT costing me half of the money and a satisfactory branded machine.

1.2 LCD / TFT selection

The long list of LCDs with different brands and size was available on the website and as per requirement of a lab workstation I chose 15.6 size as if we increase the size to 18.5, mostly it will cost almost 1,500 PKR per machine (50 machines 75,000 PKR), with following comparative prices: ACER LCD X163W 15.6 Black Widescreen VIEW SONIC LED VA-1601W 15.6 Black Widescreen
Courtesy From Galaxy Computers

Rs. 7,700 Rs. 7,950

I prefer View Sonic on Acer because of the brand name and experience.

1.3 Servers and Routers

Servers On server side we can include one of the above mentioned HP-Compaq machine along with Operating System (either Windows or Linux). Switches

For 50 of those workstations I needed to put them all together to form a network. The first thing that came to my mind was to locally connect them together which requires a Switch to do so. I researched for the Networking companies and with the help of market search and internet, the following two brands were available with good reputation: LINKSYS (CISCO). DLINK.

The market search and better quality reputation of LINKSYS make it easy to decide that one should buy two switches of 24 ports and one switch of 8 ports costs approximately 65,900 PKR for EU 10/100/1000 GIGA switches (price ref: galaxy.com.pk) will be enough to set up the network. Further the price difference between the two brands was not that huge and could be tolerated as the name of CISCO came with reliability, performance and good market value. The other plus point with CISCO was the fact that they offered their own certification which is well known worldwide, so it wont be too hard to get a Network support personal to handle its maintenance and configuration. Network patch panel The Cost of Network Patch Panel Is around 10,000 to 15,000 PKR (rates provided by market person). Cables and Stripes The Network Cables and Stripes are available at PKR 4,000 to 4,500 per coil (rates provided by market person).

Software components

1.1 Operating System

The next big thing was the software component. Without which it will be like having brains with no Intelligence. The Operating System (OS) is the most important and primary software every Computer Hardware needs.

There were quite a few choices and was made clear by Mr. Bill Gates and he helped me out with his WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE 32-BIT DVD for PKR 16,500 (price ref: galaxy.com.pk) thoroughly filling each and every requirement of mine in a professional way with: An advance OS offering good User interface and user-friendly environment. OS with easy to configure Network Support for file sharing and local Internet Connectivity. OS with a strong Back design (usually known as Kernal). OS with good market reputation and easy maintenance. And Of course it was the cheapest of all.

1.2 MS Office
The primary requirement of the lab is that it is made for business students and MS Office is the package of success for every business student. The MICROSOFT OFFICE PROFESSIONAL 2007 MLK (MEDIA LESS KIT) is available in PKR 26,000 (price ref: galaxy.com.pk).

1.3 Anti-Virus
Nowadays with Internet is so common around the globe one more thing have rapidly increased and it is Cyber Crimes. In order to have a well maintain and secure network we need an Anti-Virus that would be efficient enough to tackle these cybercrime issues. There are various Anti-virus companies working, few of them are Norton Kasperkey Avast.

I personally was pretty satisfied with Avast being using it for nearly two years now. What we need to understand is that An Anti-virus may be good enough for a single home use PC or Laptop but choosing an Anti-Virus for a network of 50 workstations

is a different ball game. And keeping in mind this issue I went on to buy a SYMANTEC ENDPOINT PROTECTION 12.0 10 USER PACK 22,250/- (price ref:

Particulars

Per unit cost

Total Cost

Amount in Rupees Cost of 50 HP machines 32,500 1,625,000 Cost of 50 LCDs 7,950 397,500 24 port = 29,700 Cost of Switches 56 ports (24+24+8) 36,200 8 port switch = 29,700 Network patch panel 15,000 15,000 Cable and Stripes (cable coil) Per coil = 4500 4,500 Operating System 16,500 825,000 MS Office 26,000 1,300,000 Anti-Virus 22,250 1,112,500 TOTAL COST 5,315,700 Per Machine Cost for 50 PCs 106,314 galaxy.com.pk) as this was the ultimate choice.

Costing Analysis

The cost of Server is not included as it is assumed that one of the PCs will be used as networking machine.