Re: Size machine for 35 simultaneous 4GL users?

Mark McWiggins (markdmc@netcom.com) wrote: : A client running an I4GL app has suddenly recognized the value of : the Internet and is about to expand the maximum number of simultaneous : users of the app from about 8 to maybe 35 or 40. The app is for an : education company: a student database with maybe 50,000 student records, : course records and schedules, etc. : They're currently on SCO running on a 486/66 with 16 MB RAM. Obviously : this won't do, but I don't know what size machine is correct for them. : 120 MHZ Pentium w/32 or 64 and stick with SCO (bleah)? Pentium and move : to Unixware? Maybe an HP or DEC Alpha? We're a small college (1100 students) with an Informix-based adminstrative package (custom-written) for student records, accounting, and fund raising. Currently, we have an ALR Revolution Q-SMP with dual P5-100's and 80 MB RAM running SCO and Online version 7. Typically there are about 40-50 people logged into the system, but probably half of them aren't doing much (or are parked in Wordperfect) at any one given time. Performance with this setup is really not much of an issue. Depending on how heavy of a load the 4GL app puts on your system and what else the system has to do, your mileage may vary. I'm suprised you can get much performance at all out of a 16MB SCO box w/ 8 Informix users. : They're price-sensitive, so I'm really looking for the maximum price/ : performance I can get for this sort of app. Thanks in advance for any : suggestions whatever. If they have the investment in SCO already, for both the OS and Informix, slapping a bigger Intel box in would _have_ be much cheaper than switching to a new hardware platform & buying a new OS & switching platforms on Informix. Just my opinion ... : -- : Mark McWiggins Hermes & Associates +1 206 632 1905 (24 hrs.) : mark@hermes.com Box 31356, Seattle WA 98103 +1 206 632 1738 (fax) -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Bos E-mail: bos@dordt.edu Director of Computer Services Dordt College Phone: (712) 722-6249 Sioux Center, IA 51250 Fax: (712) 722-1198