Which of the following contributes to a Total Cost of Ownership benefit?

• A. Increased server utilization, decreased management infrastructure costs, and lower costs to deploy new environments
• B. Higher energy usage
• C. More licensing requirements
• D. Increased complexity of management

Answer: (A)

Total Cost of Ownership is about all the costs tied to owning and operating IT resources over their life, not just the upfront price. When server utilization increases, you get more work done from each machine, spreading fixed costs over a larger workload and lowering the cost per unit of capacity. Decreasing the management infrastructure needed and the effort to administer those systems cuts admin time and support expenses, which lowers ongoing operating costs. Reducing the cost to deploy new environments speeds up provisioning and reduces the resources required to set up and scale projects, improving efficiency and lowering total spending over time.

The other options would raise costs or add complexity: higher energy usage increases power and cooling expenses, more licensing requirements add ongoing fees, and greater management complexity drives up administrative effort and the potential for inefficiency—all of which increase the total cost of ownership.