RE: Never change a running system
I have a little bit of experience with this and my guess is that it is the controls and labor that is making it so expensive to swap out the system. Especially when you are talking about 19 buildings. We recently updated our heating/cooling system and the server hardware is pretty inexpensive. Like I said the true cost lay in having the vendor build the graphics and interface so the end users could easily adjust the temperature on a per room basis. Many end point controllers(the part at the unit ventilator that the server controls) are proprietary and if the ones in place were as old as they say, they probably have to replace every single one of those, in every room, in every building. Just a guess. The cost could be inflated. School districts usually do their due diligence to ensure they select the lowest bid that gives a quality product since it is tax payer money. Being transparent, I work in a school district in Michigan, not anywhere near Grand Rapids though.
Yeah, I would also guess they have to replace the complete hardware in the schools that makes it so expensive. But it is nowhere to be found in the source, though there are some hints like the thing with the walkie-talkies.
But well, this is how the media is. They interview you, you see them writing down stuff, and in the article 1/3 is wrong, including the birth year. Been there, seen it.
Yeah, I get it. I don't disagree that the whole thing is a racket. When our guy told us the upgrade would be $14k for a new server I laughed and said I can build a Linux server in my sleep for $600 or less. Then he went on to explain about the controls and the parts between the server and the controls that allow them to interface. By the time he got to the part about having to develop the graphics for the interface we just gave up and told him fine. :P I should have went into HVAC!