A study on the creation of a regional, multi-modal data archiving system for the Chicago metropolitan area provided cost estimates for four potential options for the system set up based on case studies of other regional data archiving practices around the US.

Option #1: The system is hosted by a partnering agency
Hardware consisting of two workstations, multiple monitors, several servers and wall displays has an initial set up cost of $42,400-$46,000. Lifecycle replacement costs for hardware are estimated at $9,000 per year. Initial software development costs are estimated to be between $700,000 and $1,000,000 based on the development costs for similar systems. Annual labor costs for a full time manager and a half time IT specialist run between $127,500 (base pay) and $320,000 (including benefits). Annual power costs are estimated to be $4,700 with a base rate of energy costs at $0.11/kW-hr. Annual rent for 900 sqft to house the equipment and employees is estimated for between $19,800 (suburban Chicago) and $28,800 (downtown Chicago).
Initial costs: $746,000 - $1,046,000
Annual costs: $423,000

Option #2: The system is contracted to a university
Costs are similar to those described in Option #1, but with low end rent. Labor costs are also lower due to the use of student researchers.
Initial costs: $746,000 - $1,046,000
Annual costs: $312,000

Option #3: The system is contracted to a national transportation lab
The authors assume that because this is a prexisting lab that the hardware is already in place. Labor costs would be similar to Option #1 and rents would likely be the same as Option #2.
Initial costs: $700,000 - $1,000,000
Annual costs: $419,000

Option #4: The system is outsourced to a service provider
The authors were not able to determine an explicit cost for this option, but noted that initial costs would be lower, but annual costs would be higher than the other options. They also noted that this option comes with potential institutional and funding issues.