🚀 go-pugleaf

> I tried posting this earlier, but it appears that it did not make it
> to all the relevant groups.  So, I am re-posting.
 
Sincerest apologies if this posting appears in inappropriate news groups.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A friend of mine has been asked to develop a fee structure for accessors of
a companies information resources.  She writes as follows,

 I need help on the following: I need to know how certain organizations charge
 for use of their network gateways (gateways join two systems/networks
 together, usually at the midrange or mainframe level e.g. at the Front-end
 Processor). For instance, do they charge by the number of sessions a client
 signs up for, by the number of sessions the client actually used, do they have
 a one-time membership fee with a smaller monthly maintenance fee which allows
 users a large but undefined number of sessions, do they not charge at all and
 if so then what is their justification? All these questions ask: HOW is the
 gateway charged. But I also need to know, if possible, WHAT the charge is
 based on: what cost items do they include in maintenance of the gateway
 and what percentage of these cost items is used. Cost items include: human
 resources, CPU time, memory, software development, and other overhead items.

Any ideas from anyone who is familiar with this area would be appreciated.
Any information on books or papers covering this topic, or firms doing similar work, would also be appreciated.

Please send all responses to the Email address below.  If there is enough
interest, I will post a summary on the net.

Thanks in advance.

Robert Williams
U of T, CIMLab
Toronto, Canada
Email : william1@drill.me.utoronto.ca