RE: Scalability

[R Bruce Hoffman <bruce.hoffman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 2005-02-05 at 15:07, Joe Pluta wrote:

> On the other hand, how many Microsoft Certified Software Engineers does
> it take to run a server farm?  And they're not exactly cheap.  The same
> with Unix.  Get a couple dozen Unix servers running and see how many
> people it takes to keep the operating system (much less your application
> program and database) patched and running.

MS, IMO, is just NOT a SERVER operating system. BUT... it IS an entry
level system. So it gets grandfathered in. But I digress... <VBG>

While I am inclined to agree on the number of MS people, I have to
disagree with the "Unix" at least as far as AIX is concerned. I have a
client with almost a dozen AIX boxes and 1 iSeries. All of their web and
half of their database is on AIX. And they are using Websphere servers
under AIX. Their EC all runs under AIX. Their back-office and customer
service applications on the iSeries.

They spend maybe 2 to 3 times as much time on the AIX admin as they do
on the iSeries admin. They know that. All the way to the board room.

Everyone below the board room REALLY wants to keep the iSeries. No one
IN the board room cares about the platform. They found a solution. On
AIX. They KNOW it will probably be more expensive in the TCO department
but only if they fail to account for increased volumes and customer
satisfaction.

They can't locate anything even close on the iSeries. They are looking
at an improvement on the bottom line by not having to develop the
additional functionality on the iSeries and by improving their customer
service, thus reducing that TCO.

And to top it off, it does NOT use DB2. Which they have on all the AIX
boxes. And that will be the end of the iSeries. Even though they need a
20+ processor box to make this new solution fly given their volumes.

And it's not from NOT listening... they gave everybody from IBM on down
a chance. More than a chance, it's been 2 years. It just ended up on a
different platform.

AIX, and Unix platforms, while different, under skilled hands, are NOT
as much trouble as people make them out to be. At least, that's been my
experience.



> -- 
> "Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."
> -- Oscar Wilde