Cabling is 61% of campus networking infrastructure cost; physical plant amortizes over 10-15+ years

UNC Information Technology Services' 2020 cost study finds that cabling represents 61% of total campus network cost, network electronics 16%, and other infrastructure 23%. Cabling is embedded in buildings and amortizes against building lifecycles regardless of what traffic the network carries. Hamilton's Overall Data Center Costs (2010) and Schneider Electric / APC TCO studies establish that data-center mechanical and electrical infrastructure amortizes over 10-15 year cycles, with building shells substantially longer (27-40 years per tax-life rules), UPS batteries 4 years, CRAC/CRAH units 12 years, switchgear 15 years, electrical distribution boards 25 years, and generators 30 years.

The implication for C-0006: the dominant cost components of campus IT — cabling, building shell, mechanical and electrical infrastructure — are sunk against decade-plus amortization schedules and do not vary with the protocol traffic the network carries. Adding Tier 3 protocol participation to an institution's existing physical plant produces no incremental cost on the line items that constitute the majority of that plant's expense.