CLIENT-SERVER ARCHITECTURE - A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Datapro Information Service Group estimates that the percentage of mai nframe sites in the U.S. claiming a client/server architecture will ex perience a fivefold increase within a year. In addition, in April of 1 992, Dun & Bradstreet Software introduced several new client/server fi nancial applications aimed at the company's 12, 000 customer sites, ab out 40% of which are expected to move to client/server by 1995. Howeve r, many people are not clear about the client/server concept. The purp ose of this paper is to describe what client/server computing is, why this architecture has evolved, how it functions, vendors that market c lient/server products, and businesses that have relied on this approac h to solve computing needs.