Re: Computer Configs for 1-1-00.doc

It's always a pleasure to witness the thoroughness you approach everything with! (that was a sincere remark). This info is for Trilogy in the UK, where elections involve precinct count only, with upload only, and at most several offices. Therefore, configuration A will undoubtedly do the job.

Thanks again, Nel

(P.S. According to Trilogy, some market research company took on the task of central counting London's 4 million or so ballots within 3 - 4 8-hour days.).

----- Original Message -----

From: Ian Piper

To: Nel Finberg

Cc: Support Team (E-mail)

Sent: Friday, March 24, 2000 2:08 PM

Subject: Re: Computer Configs for 1-1-00.doc

Each of these computer configurations (A, B, and C) is appropriate for a certain client size, i.e.. configuration A for 1 - 100 precincts, etc. Or you tell me: what determines which client employs which of the configurations A through C?

Nel

Mike is the best person to tell you about performance issues. It never seems completely related to the number of precincts but to the tasks the computer has to do. I've asked him a few times about it so maybe I can relate it in his terms.

Here goes:

Damn near everything that we run out there can be handled by a Small Scale Configuration A machine. One exception would be a large central count site (12+ CC AccuVotes) where you might want to have a separate Medium Scale Config B machine. It has 128MB RAM, one 6.4GB EIDE hard drive, and a ZIP Drive for backup.

The Medium Scale Config B machine is for people who want redundancy. It has a redundant power supply and a RAID5 array of four 9GB SCSI hard disks. It also has 256MB RAM and a DAT Tape drive for backup. It has space for a second processor, but it's not loaded. Second processors usually slow processing down unless your running high graphic content floating point software. Its over powered for uploads and reporting, but just right for Central Count. This unit may be sold to an account who thinks they need something bigger than a mini-tower to run "ELECTION SOFTWARE!!!"

The Large Scale Config C machine is an "over-the-top" machine. This unit has every bell and whistle in it. It's for those customers who have nothing but money coming out of their ears and want to flaunt it. Totally unnecessary for actually running elections but a very impressive piece of equipment for customers to ogle.

GEMS is a very process-efficient program. Running on Windows NT helps. We already provide 128MB of RAM on the unit which is usually enough to do most jobs. But if you wanted it to do more, and do it faster, the memory can be increased for a price. The only other item that is totally up to the customer is screen size. Right now we offer 17", and 21" monitor upgrades (at a price of course).

Hope this helps you and anybody else who always wondered. Mike is free to rebutt this if he wants to challenge my accuracy of this picture.

Ian