Transaction Per Second ('TPS') estimates and requirements from potential OLS.Switch clients seem to be doing a reasonable impression of the Zimbabwean Dollar recently. Over the past year, we've gone from sober discussions of credible peak projections of 100, 250, 400 TPS to increasingly chin-scratching numbers of 800, 1,000 and 5,000 TPS. As Alejandro joked to me: Hell, if you're picking numbers, why not go for it? How about 10,000?
I will grant you, Oh Mighty Payment Industry Cog (FDR, Fifth Third, AMEX, etc.), Oh Bentonville, Oh Tar-ZHAY your 1,000+ TPS. But Mr. Big Plans Acquirer? Hats off to your confidence, but I come possessing my doubts and glancing askance at your projections.
Perspective available here [OLS Acquirer Switch at Fortune 100 Retailer - Peak Days by Half Hour]
Fortune 100 Retailer. 5,000 stores. 25,000 points-of-sale. Four US continental time zones. 21 separate applications supported. ~USD30 billion in annual revenue. Sustained (30-minute) peak on all-time highest day...not quite 60 TPS.
Your mileage may vary. But I'm just saying.
[Flash creation courtesy of the awesome Swiff Chart from GlobFX.]
We've made some estimates for our transaction network... all service transactions (multiple products), network management messages, etc... 30,000 terminals.... 266 TPS, nominal load.
One thing that people sometimes get confused about when they are talking TPS is what they are defining as a "transaction". Some define it as a single message between a terminal and the switch. Some define it as a group of related messages between the terminal and the switch. Some include network management messages, some don't. Some define a transaction as *any* message within their system (for instance, a single message from a terminal might generate 20 internal messages between services/systems).
Our TPS estimate was for individual messages between terminal and host.
Posted by: David | Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 23:08