> This type of usage requires heavy transaction processing power and fast
> buses. You don't find it on WIntel class hardware, even clustered. You
> won't even find it on midrange hardware. Each "CPU" on these boxes is
> actually an array of CPU's that is comparable in actual throughput to an
> array of 10 2 GHz P4's. Boxes may run with from 1 to 64 of these CPU
> arrays.
>
> The DBMS splits the database across many files on many volumes.
> Typically, data and indexes are configured reside on different physical
> DASD units to minimize I/O thrashing (remember how often this question
> comes up in the architecture list?).
>
> There are only a few hundred distributed connections. Processing within
> the hosting hardware boundary has an arbitrary number of connections
> that are pooled by the transactioning system, that is in turn shared by
> terminals and internal processes.
>
> The very heavy usage systems have midrange feeder systems at a few
> thousand local collection points. The minis funnel compressed data
> streams through dedicated connections to the national headquarters as
> fast as they can, saturating the telco's fiber optic connection at peak
> times of the year.
>
> You can run linux as a guest OS on these boxes. Vertical scalability pf
> linux is accomplished by allowing multiple linux instances to run
> concurrently as guest OS's on separate partitions in the machine.
>
> DASD has gigabytes of cache, and is connected by multi-gigabit fiber
> optic.
>

don't suppose you're talking about the system they have at Langley Virginia
are you?
Alan