Axapta Performance on WAN

Hi All, We are currently evaluating several ERP products, including Axapta, with a view to replace our ageing legacy system. Whilst Axapta was the early favourite we have since had quite a few concerns about it’s viability over a WAN. We operate 100 branches countrywide with approximately 750 concurrent users. The majority of the users (± 80%) perform 3 basic tasks viz. Invoicing, Stock Inquiries and Stock Transfers - all from the branches. Initially the view was that these could use the Web Client interface but recently we had some concerns over the functionality and ‘Ease of Use’ of the Web Client. Our sales staff simply MUST have a simple and easy to use front-end that should be keyboard driven. My personal feeling is that the Web Client is not capable of this but I’m open to correction. The alternative is the AOS 3-Tier client or the so called Axapta Thin Client model. However, after reading several of the postings on this forum I seriously doubt whether that is feasible. People talk of latency having to be 50ms or less and in our country (South Africa) thats a pipe dream! Furthermore, there appears to be other issues regarding the AOS model that raises even futher concerns. One thing I am not sure of is exactly what the client hardware is in this scenario? Maybe someone can tell me what it is? Must the client be a PC? That certainly appears to be the case but I’m not sure. Or could it be a Thin Client terminal eg. Wyse or NCD? Any ideas? The last option is to use the Fat Client but running either Citrix or Terminal Server (RDP). Unfortunately, I believe this solution to be a non-starter due to the prohibitive licensing costs. Just imagine it - 750 Win2000 Licenses, 750 Citrix Licenses and then 750 Axapta Windows Licenses. Hell, I may as well go SAP on Unix![:D] Lastly, the AOS (3 Tier) model is also problematic in that it too would require Axapta Windows licenses as opposed to Web Client licenses. The diffference in price is enormous when one considers that we have 750 concurrent users! Has anyone got any ideas and/or suggestions for me? As I said, we really liked what Axapta had to offer esepecially from a technical perspective. But, the major concern is just how it would perform in our environment. Thanks Campbell

Campbell, the best you can do is contact Philip Actor of Multrix, a hosting partner in the netherlands. They host ERP solutions all over the world and are preferred hosting partner of MBS. They also have customers in South Africa. You can find their phone number on www.multrix.com. If you tell him I sent you he will surely help you as good is he can. Multrix hosts more than only MBS, so he should be able to give you a objective view on these models…

Hi Campbell, We also host Axapta amongst other products (mostly Microsoft-based ones). Our biggest client to date is using this system to access fron 11 countries (though not yet, it deploys them country by country). What we see is WAN is a sensitive issue, You also have to consider the multiple number of parties involved. However, Terminal Services is a good solution for WAN, and You don’t need Citrix, Terminal Services in Windows 2003 will do everything You need (for this number of users You mention, session directory will be needed to ensure clients connect back to the same server they were connected before - since you will need multiple servers). However, the good news is that license is not that problematic (at least if You sign with a Microsoft ASP parter like us), since MS has ASP licensing available, that means you pay licenses monthly and according to actual usage. This is much cheaper and also more flexible since a deployment es large as You mention takes a cople of months at least. Last time I checked, ASP licenses are not available for Axapta itself, but for Windows server, SQL server, TS client it is. Also, You won’t need 750 windows licenses, just TS client licenses - that is, if Your clients connecting are Windows 2000 Professional, since these include TS client licenses. Its not so easy, these licensing issues [:)] I advise You to contact Mr. Lajos Bernath, our Sales Director for Enterprise customers to start a detailed conversation about this (I am more a technical guy). Cheers, Peter

quote:


Originally posted by subap
I advise You to contact Mr. Lajos Bernath, our Sales Director for Enterprise customers


Oops, I forgot his E-Mail address: bernathl @ eol.hu Peter

quote:


Originally posted by subap
You won’t need 750 windows licenses, just TS client licenses - that is, if Your clients connecting are Windows 2000 Professional, since these include TS client licenses.


Bah, it is not correct [:(!] What I meant to say is: You will need only 750 TS client licenses instead of 750 Win2K + 750 Citrix. AND if You have Windows 2000 Professional on the client side, You won’t even need TS licenses for these clients, because the CAL is built in to Windows 2000 Professional. Told you it isn’t easy…[|)] Peter

Campbell, you can have it both ways; in practice we supply our customers Axapta both via Citrix and via AOS. AOS of course is the cheaper way, but gives a less functional Axapta client then the full W32 client available via Citrix. Looking at your fully decentral organisation (location/clientwise), you can probably let most of your population use the AOS client for simple entry type ops, while letting the back office use the full client functionality. Depending on the industry you are in, we may even be able to rent you the Axapta license, as of our MSP partners holfds the only rental Axapta license available. Kind regards, Phillip Actor CEO Multrix Amsterdam

Hi Campbell, I work for a NSC which is both a Navision Partner and an Axapta partner drop me an e-mail concerning your organisations wan infrastructure and we will see what we can do to advise you gsmith@bs3.co.za