CAS-002 · Question #119
A company is preparing to upgrade its NIPS at five locations around the world. The three platforms the team plans to test, claims to have the most advanced features and lucrative pricing. Assuming…
The correct answer is C. Evaluate each platform based on the total cost of ownership. When all platforms meet functional requirements, Total Cost of Ownership provides the most comprehensive basis for platform selection by accounting for all lifecycle costs.
Question
A company is preparing to upgrade its NIPS at five locations around the world. The three platforms the team plans to test, claims to have the most advanced features and lucrative pricing. Assuming all platforms meet the functionality requirements, which of the following methods should be used to select the BEST platform?
Options
- AEstablish return on investment as the main criteria for selection.
- BRun a cost/benefit analysis based on the data received from the RFP.
- CEvaluate each platform based on the total cost of ownership.
- DDevelop a service level agreement to ensure the selected NIPS meets all performance
How the community answered
(27 responses)- A15% (4)
- B4% (1)
- C78% (21)
- D4% (1)
Why each option
When all platforms meet functional requirements, Total Cost of Ownership provides the most comprehensive basis for platform selection by accounting for all lifecycle costs.
ROI measures financial return relative to investment but does not capture ongoing operational and support costs that substantially affect long-term platform value.
A cost/benefit analysis from an RFP evaluates vendor pricing proposals but is narrower in scope than TCO and may omit post-purchase operational expenses.
TCO encompasses all costs over the full lifecycle of the NIPS platforms - including initial purchase, deployment, integration, training, support, maintenance, and eventual replacement - making it the most thorough and fair metric for comparing three competing platforms across five global locations.
An SLA defines performance expectations and service guarantees after selection, but it is not a comparative selection methodology and does not address cost differences between platforms.
Concept tested: Total Cost of Ownership for security platform selection
Topics
Community Discussion
No community discussion yet for this question.