Another reason has to do with government's need for fault-tolerant computers as they increase their use of the Internet. The data warehouse provides appropriate data to the two groups served by the system, employees and the public. The data available externally is refreshed nightly from a data warehouse running on a Sun workstation. The department's Web site is reflective of the elaborate structure of connections to databases upstream from the data warehouses. GIS technology is also being used to provide pesticide-related information by specific locale.
Some experts say the line of distinction between workstations and PCs is rapidly blurring.
Prices for low-end workstations nearly match those for PCs using a Pentium Pro microprocessor. But the leading vendors believe the workstation market has distinct needs that PCs and Windows just can't provide. The people at Sun, HP, Silicon Graphics, Digital and others are hard at work building advanced memory architectures, faster system throughput, greater expandability, network connectivity and high-end graphics capabilities. With these features, functions and ever-increasing performance, workstation computers just might become unique once again. Sun Microsystems 3,262.