Cost Estimate for Data Center Operation

And now, for something completely different. I would like to get an idea of how much it would cost in total to perform a relatively simple database transaction on a very large database. I'm thinking the answer should be somewhere between 0.001 cent and 0.000000001 cent, but just where it would fall is interesting. The costs should include: - Physical Facilities - Electricity - Air conditioning - Total cost of ownership of hardware (computing, data servers and networking equipment) - Personnel costs IT, Networking, etc. - Software costs (Oracle -vs- MySQL anyone?) What I'm trying to get at is approximately what is the expected cost in a large scale for doing data base transactions and storing them. I'm thinking something simpler than a Google search transaction, but more complex than say, an address lookup. The actual complexity of the transaction is less important to me than the supporting data (cost of servers, cost of electricity, cost of the building, etc.) I figure someone has to have gone through this exercise and could share some insights as to what the costs are, and approximately how much they might be. Don't worry, I don't need exact numbers, I just need some sanity numbers to compute whether something I want to do is feasible, and I need someone to help me think the process through. For a deliverable I would expect a 2-5 page report in Word format that outlines the expected areas of expenditure, and how much those expenditures might be expected to be. Some ideas about how to make decisions to save money would be a bonus. Thanks! -Kelly ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional working program(s) in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done. 2) Deliverables must be in ready-to-run condition, as follows (depending on the nature of the deliverables): a) For web sites or other server-side deliverables intended to only ever exist in one place in the Buyer's environment--Deliverables must be installed by the Seller in ready-to-run condition in the Buyer's environment. b) For all others including desktop software or software the buyer intends to distribute: A software installation package that will install the software in ready-to-run condition on the platform(s) specified in this bid request. 3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement). ## Platform Doesn't matter. Could be Linux if that's cheaper.