How to Choose an Application Server
I remember seeing my Dad’s feet sticking out from under the car in our garage where I grew up in mid-Michigan. He’d be putting on a new muffler or repairing the brakes. I remember him being in the garage late at night when it must have been well below freezing, trying to pull a faulty radiator out of our Chevy Chevette. That’s a pretty hardcore commitment to do-it-yourself repair! I live in Orlando, Florida now, so the idea of spending more than 6 minutes outside doing something when its less than 60 degrees and I start to look for other options…all the more reason to respect him and all the hard work he put into making sure our family always had a running vehicle…
Fast forward several decades and I find myself at an auto dealer picking out a German-made vehicle. My criteria were:
- Features: A convertible to soak up the Florida sunshine and an automatic transmission to make the I-4 traffic jams easier to handle.
- Dealer Support: Two dealers within 30 miles of my house
- Fiscal responsibility: I purchased a used vehicle that had come off a three-year lease
- Little ongoing maintenance: Change oil, rotate tires, new breaks, good to go!
- Little need for repair: Did I mention German engineering?
- Must Love It: It was a gorgeous looking vehicle and knowing that I fulfilled the above criteria made it even more appealing
Did I choose the right vehicle? Who knows? But what I do not regret is thinking through the purchasing process from every angle before I walked into even a single auto dealer.
Back to choosing an application server: Don’t let the technical side of reviewing application servers put you off; this is a purchase decision like any other, so you should be just as pragmatic. Here are some things to consider…
Author: Jeff Vannest, LABVANTAGE Solutions, Inc.
