[Zope] Zope capabilities

[Rob Page]

Hi Bill:

Bill Barnes wrote:
>  My plan for my manufacturing client of 10-20 nodes was to 
> use Linux as a server to  Applixware clients coupled to Sybase.
>  Am I to understand that I can use Zope to put an extensive library of
> applications (accounting, order entry, inventory, etc)
>  on my website that will be available to my client's enterprise, and,
> better yet, available to  other clients, as well.

Yes..  of course, you'll have to develop these applications!  :^)  If I
read this correctly it sounds like you want to be a mini-ASP
(Application Service Provider).  There is a lot of activity (marketing
and real :^) in this area now!

> What about performance?  Will the database be on my client's hardware
> or on my website? Reviewing the installations list, I didn't see
anything that 
> approached  enterprise class operations.  Is the system that robust?

The client need only be a web browser.  The database (ZODB) is colocated
with the Zope server process.  It's likely in a manufacturing scenario
that you'll be integrating relational data as well (e.g., from
Oracle/Sybase).  The RDBMS server can run on any machine -- though for
obvious reasons it should be topologically close to the Zope server.

Performance is a hard thing to measure because of all of the variance in
testing methodologies.  So, take the following with a grain of salt.
"Moderately" complicated Zope apps can do ~1M hits per day on garden
variety hardware (P3 450).  More hardware usually means more hits.

With respect to enterprise class applications -- we (Digital Creations)
have developed an app for a customer that they use to publish inventory
and backorder levels from a 9TB (yes, TB) Oracle inventory and parts
database worldwide.  It's been up for over two years.  However, there
are a lot of folks on this list that are running their entire businesses
on Zope.

Regards,
--Rob