There are three primary areas of AVI that incur initial and follow up costs. They include the readers, the tags and the service / maintenance. This three part series will look at each aspect of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and illustrate how to calculate TCO. In our first part, we evaluate the readers themselves.
When paying for an entirely new install, the customer is
inclined to look at the bottom dollar price and will fail to include the additional
costs that come from operating a technical AVI system. Readers, while often not the largest single
line item (tags are because of their quantity), they do have the largest initial
single item cost.
One thing that will increase the TCO is the lifecycle length
of the reader. If your reader does not
include backward compatibility and a long lifecycle, then your total cost over
the lifetime of the project can increase dramatically. Replacing a single discontinued reader may involve a total system replacement.
A second issue is the reader’s compatibility with
various
input/outputs. Most readers come
equipped to deal with only one method (Wiegand, RS 232, RS485 or TCP/IP). This then involves either constraining your
choices for upgrade / system change or replacing your AVI
system along with the remainder of your system.
Finally, does the reader require FCC Part 90 licensing? If it does, count on adding significant
dollars to the initial order and time to the installation. The FCC charges $210 per geographic location,
renewable every ten years. The FCC also
requires the use of a frequency coordinator with costs of approximately $400
per geographic location. Finally, the FCC
was 5 months backlogged before the shutdown (we know because we called and asked).
The shutdown will now increase the backlog, delaying the installation
and operation.
At TagMaster North America, our readers provide the longest
lifecycle (15 years), are backwards compatibility and offer the most flexibility
with Wiegand (15-50 bit), RS232, RS485 or TCP/IP built into each reader. The TagMaster North America reader requires
no site licensing. Call us today and see why
a TagMaster Reader is the best solution for your lowering your total cost of
ownership.
TagMaster North America, Inc. is here to help you with
detailing the Total Cost of Ownership. Please
call our office today toll free at (866)
615-5299 or e-mail us at info@tagmasterna.com. We will be happy to show you a
full Total Cost of Ownership comparison and help you design your next project.
