Patent ID: 6968324

Claim:
A program storage device readable by a digital processing apparatus and tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the digital processing apparatus to perform method steps for determining a cost differential resulting from migrating computational processing capacity from a first computer platform to a second computer platform, the method steps comprising: providing information on usage for said first computer platform and for said second computer platform; determining, based upon said provided information, a required processing capacity for said first computer platform and said second computer platform; deriving a cost and capacity measurement for said first computer platform and for said second computer platform; determining an amount of said required processing capacity to be migrated from said first computer platform and an associated amount of said required processing capacity to be migrated to said second computer platform; deriving a cost and capacity measurement for said first computer platform after said migration and for said second computer platform after said migration; and combining said usage information and said determined required processing capacity to produce a first value for the capacity and cost associated with the first computer platform, and a second value for the capacity and cost associated with said second computer platform, as well as a total value for capacity and total cost associated with the aggregate of said first and second computer platform.