How thin is a "Thin-client" made with ASTA? Do I need to install the BDE with the client? Will ASTA work with InfoPower & other third-party data-aware tools? Is it possible for the client and the server to run on the same machine? How Does ASTA compare to MIDAS? What version of Delphi do I need?	How many users does an ASTA Server support? Is the ASTA Server multi-threaded? How much does Asta cost? What about Encryption? What about Compression? Does ASTA support a "SuitCase" or "BriefCase" model?

How thin is a "Thin-client" made with ASTA? ASTA adds about 175k to your Delphi applications. And there are third-party products that typically shrink ASTA executables by about 40%. The ASTA Demo client is about 600k. Your mileage will vary with your application, but the "cost" for using ASTA is about 175k. Do I need to install the BDE with the AstaClient? No. The BDE is not used by ASTAClients. The AstaClient requires its executable file (yourappname.exe), nothing else. No DLLS, no drivers, no BDE. Will ASTA work with InfoPower & other third-party data-aware tools? ASTA works with InfoPower version 3.01 or higher. ASTA should work with any 3rd-party tool that supports the TDataSet object. Is it possible for the client and the server to run on the same machine? Yes. N-Tier architectures always have separate logical implementations, but there are many physical implemetations. The same application can be run on one, two or three different systems. How Does ASTA compare to MIDAS? ASTA and MIDAS occupy the same product space, but they are "different animals". The original ASTA prototype was born before MIDAS was released. It's original inspiration comes from the WWW (see How Asta Compares to the World Wide Web). Here are a few of the many differences: ASTA aggresively supports non-BDE solutions. As of ASTA v2.0 we have nine different ASTA servers inlcuding BDE, ODBCExpress (very fast for SQL Server, Access and other databases that have ODBC drivers), IBObjects and Direct Oracle Access (API level servers). ASTA has a robust and extensible messaging layer that allows you to send anything between the client and the server. The messaging can be synchronous or asynchronous depending on your needs. ASTA allows you to use Delphi Professional (MIDAS only ships with Delphi Client/Server). ASTA does not require COM or DCOM. MIDAS uses COM and requires DCOM on every machine which can be "difficult to maintain and install" (quoted from the documentation). ASTA is a fraction of the cost of MIDAS. As of the date of this writing, the list price on a MIDAS server was $2,500, the list price of an ASTA Server was $249. MIDAS requires you to program the server. ASTA supports server-side and client-side programming. This allows you to convert your existing two-tier applications (traditional C/S apps) with very quickly and also eases the learning curve to multi-tier programming. ASTA has an automatic-update feature that distributes new versions of your software automatically. Register the latest version of your client at an ASTA server and when an older client logs in, a new version will automatically stream out and replace it. NO CODE required! No need to distribute any DLLs. MIDAS requires the dbclient.dll. ASTA Clients do not require Winsock 2. ASTA has built-in compression (and allows you to implement your own routines or a third party library with ease). ASTA has built-in encryption (and allows you to implement your own routines or a third party library with ease). ASTA's support is the best in the business. What version of Delphi do I need? ASTA can be used by Delphi Professional or Delphi Client/Server. It supports Delphi 3-6 (and some versions of Borland's C++ Builder). You should apply the latest Inprise updates to whatever version you use. How many users does an ASTA Server support? Many variables determine the maximum server load. The most important variables are specific to your application; what type of bandwidth is available, how many concurrent users will be on the system, the nature of the data, and the nature of the users' interaction? An application where the users are simply inputting name and address data may scale into the hundreds. An application where the users are handling lots of binary data will not handle as many users - bandwidth may become the bottleneck, not server capacity. It would be irresponsible of us to say, ASTA can support "X" users. The simple fact of the matter is that the nature of your application and your skill as a programmer are the greatest determining factors. The best way for you to find out how ASTA will operate in your environment is to download the evaluation components and prototype your application. Is the ASTA Server multi-threaded? ASTA servers support three threading models (controlled via the ThreadingModel property of the AstaServerSocket). tmSinglSession is a single thread deployment. Very fast, very light on resources. tmPooledSessions allows the clients to connect to a pool of threaded database sessions. tmPersistentSessions allows users to maintain state in their own separate threaded database connection. This allows you to take advantage of the Packet feature which allows you to return small sections of a large query. This option is more resource intensive. We have found that many developers are often mislead about the potential benefits of threading. ASTA delivers its fastest performance when it is not threaded. Threading is useful in particular circumstances. For instance, if your application contains many small quick queries but has large, slow queries mixed in, threading may be beneficial - the server will return all the result sets a little slower, but more requests can be handled simultaneously. In this case you are making a trade-off; all the result sets will come back a little bit slower, but no request will wait in line behind an inordinately long request. What about Encryption? ASTA provides great flexibility for encryption. The product even ships with built-in encryption that you can activate without writing a single line of code. The built-in encryption provides maximum ease-of-use - simply set the AstaClientSocket and the AstaServerSocket's Encrypt property to "etAstaEncrypt" and recompile. Instant encryption, no code. The algorithm is quite simple but it will discourage casual lurkers (keep in mind that most security breaches are the result of social engineering, not highly skilled hacking). For those developers that need to implement high-level security, we have provided OnEncrypt and OnDecrypt event handlers. Those event handlers allow the developer to plug in third-party or self-authored encryptions schemes. You have complete control over the encryption that you wish to use. What about Compression? ASTA provides flexible compression handling. ASTA ships with no-code compression support (using a freeware library), to enable compression simply set the AstaServerSocket and AstaClientSocket Compression properties to "acAstaCompress" - instant,"no-code" compression. Just like our Encryption implementation, the developer can use our event handlers to exercise complete control over the compression/decompression process too. Does ASTA support a "SuitCase" or "BriefCase" Model? Yes. The TAstaClientDataSet has persistent storage features. It can save itself to a stream, a file or even a BLOB field. In typical use, you use the SuitCaseData property to specify the file name and location, then you save the data by calling the "SaveSuitCaseData" method. You can work offline for a period of time (hour, day, week, etc), then you can post your changes to the AstaServer when go back online.