In IT, there is always hype about what things cost. But an important aspect, especially in the database environment, is finding out the hidden costs, and the costs that some vendors don't ever mention when pitching their solution.

Total cost of ownership is critical when you're thinking about switching out platforms and spending millions and investing in a technology you'll be locked down with for a long, long time.

Data is the business these days, and the data center cost equation is always going to be increasing as data workloads, storage, regulations increase.

The focus is to get a complete TCO at the start and then determine the ongoing additional costs that will come into play down the road.

So first off, the TCO with databases is not just about hardware and software.

While one vendor's hardware may be a bit cheaper in price, it may very well be that the same vendor's software costs are quite a bit more than a competitor's.

It's the hardly-mentioned, but sometimes very costly components, that can come bundled up in hardware and software that can have you spending more than you need.

Sometimes these components aren't necessary yet there's no pulling them out of the one-size-fits-all system or pulling them out of the cost equation.

There is certainly no reason to pay for features, middleware and other components a system doesn't require. Unless of course you're given no option.

For example, Oracle-Sun's Exadata v2 offers up SSD Flash drives. That may be a much needed technology for some environments, but not for all. Data warehousing environments is just one example of where that technology is not needed. But if that IT organization goes with that solution, they're paying for it.

That's the dark side of any one-size-fits-all approach. You end up paying for lots of things you don't need or won't ever use in your database environment. And who has money to do that these days?

In contrast, the ability to only paying for what you need, which is the IBM approach, is the most cost-effective and provides the clearest TCO an enterprise can get.

As an IBM leader explains that's because IBM doesn't sell products, it sells solutions that companies need to keep their business moving forward. No more, and no less.