I never said at any point that you should change platforms or that the
i was not a good solution - for you at least. I simply said that
scalability was not as simple as you described it - "adding cores" -
and that your comparisons to server farms were overly simplistic -
that still applies in my opinion.
There is no sense in considering a different solution in your case as
you have a considerable investment in the i and have developed an
architecture that supports modern interfaces and works well for you.
Why would you change ? Well done, and I mean that sincerely.
Unfortunately, scalability is also about entry cost - scaling *DOWN* -
would you choose the i as your platform if you were beginning
development of your product from scratch if you did not already have
the investment in expensive hardware and a niche language like RPG ?
Would you have invested in developing a framework when there are so
many free existing frameworks (not on i) to choose from ? Would you
have hired scarce and expensive iSeries personnel as opposed to
commodity and plentiful PHP/.NET/whatever people ? On a technical
basis you might still say "yes", but would this be considered a sound
business decision ?
You can't just take one example (your own) that the i works well for
and make a case that the i as a platform scales well, your situation
is quite unique. Unfortunately.
What sort of platform (hardware, OS, Database) are we needing?
-Nathan
midrange.com
