Re: [pki-lowercosts] FW: Marinade projects COMETS.htm

[Steve Hanna <Steve.Hanna@Sun.COM>]

I have reviewed this model. As Ann said, it's
quite detailed. However, it seems to be focussed
on a public CA business model where you set
up a CA, LRA, Directory Service, etc. and then
charge end users per certificate.

Does the same cost model apply in a corporate
environment? I expect there are differences.
For instance, I don't see any costs for application
integration. That's a big cost. Smart cards
are also not included but a sales staff is.

Help desk costs are also usually a big concern,
although Rich Guida says this is mainly a
startup cost since calls drop off after the
initial startup period.

I'm also concerned about whether the numbers
are still accurate. Computer hardware and
software costs have declined a lot in the
last five years.

The bottom line for me is that I am impressed
by the work that went into this but I have many
concerns about how well it applies to corporate
environments and how dated it may be. Maybe it
could be useful for analyzing public CA costs
and maybe it could be adapted for a corporate
environment (or, due to possible intellectual
property concerns, simply used as inspiration).

I'd like to proceed with our cost model survey
(at least asking the Lower Costs SC members)
unless we find something better than this.

Thanks,

Steve

Terwilliger, Ann wrote:

> 
> 
> 
>>> <<Marinade projects COMETS.htm>> 
>>
>>This is the COMETS (Cost Model for European Trust Services) page.  COMETS is essentially an EXCEL spread sheet based model that was developed in 1998.  I'm pulling down the file and will check it out.  Also, I have requested a copy of the ECAF Model to see if it has any actual costs in it.  More later
>>
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 	Home <home.shtml>
> 	About <aboutus.shtml>
> 	Projects <projects.shtml>
> 	Links <links.php>
> 	News <news.php>
> 	Archive <archive.shtml>
> 	Demo <demo.shtml>
> 	Legal <legal.shtml>
> 
> 		
> 
> 
>   COMETS
> 
> The COMETS project set out to create a generic cost model for Trusted 
> Third Parties. After eight months' work in the course of 1998, the 
> output includes a Microsoft Excel workbook, which automatically produces 
> a business plan for five different logical components of a Public Key 
> Infrastructure, combined into a user-selectable set of business units. 
> The business plan takes the form of worksheets in the Excel environment, 
> with data based on the research carried out by the project. However, the 
> worksheets can be modified by the user to fit existing data, either 
> using the custom COMETS menu, or by directly manipulating the 
> worksheets. In this way, the workbook application provides a flexible 
> tool for users to create their own business plans.
> 
> In this project, we worked with our partners Cryptomathic A/S 
> <http://www.cryptomathic.dk/>, Logica plc <http://www.logica.com/> and 
> the University of Leuven <http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/icri>. You can 
> find further information about the ETS programme on the European 
> Commission's website <http://www.cordis.lu/>.
> 
> 		
> 
> 
>     Download the application
> 
> You can download the COMETS workbook application v. 1.0 plus the manual 
> (in Microsoft Word format) from here. It requires Microsoft Windows '95 
> plus Excel '97 and Word '97 (or later).
> 
> Cometsv10.zip <ftp://ftp.marinade.ltd.uk/cometsv10.zip> (375 kB)
> 
> You can see a sample of the output from the COMETS application, edited 
> for HTML, if you click here <sample2.htm> (75 kB).
> 
> Marinade Limited - 1 Gainsford Street - London SE1 2NE - Tel +44 20 7378 
> 1171
>