4-04-05 Performance Engineering in Client/Server Environments

As part of an overall strategy to lower its IT costs, an oil and gas company considered deploying its data base management system within a client/server environment, thus cutting both hardware expenditures and software licensing fees. The organization was skeptical, however, of the network's ability to support 150 concurrent users at an acceptable response rate. Long transaction times would reduce the level of customer service yet increase organizational costs for customer service representatives. To evaluate the proposed system environment, the company devised and conducted benchmark test to emulate its anticipated workload. This proof-of-concept benchmark demonstrated that the architecture could indeed handle the requisite load within acceptable performance parameters. The company could confidently install the new system without compromising customer service or incurring unexpected expenditures. By incorporating performance engineering at an early stage of the decision and design process, the company achieved its goals with minimal disruption and maximum economy.