FAQ 34 – What is scalability?

The principle of scalability​The principle of scalability​

Scalability comes from the verb “to scale“.

Scalability is mainly a computer science term. It represents the ease with which an asset, software or program can adapt to the fluctuating demands of different users.

This applies mainly to software, with programs being highly successful from the start. These had to be prepared at all levels, to be able to adapt to more or less demands than less and/or with more more or less capacity.

La scalabilité est un terme informatique principalement. Elle représente la facilité pour un bien, un logiciel ou un programme, à s’adapter à la fluctuation des demandes des différents utilisateurs.
Il existe deux types de scalabilité : d’une part la scalabilité horizontale et d’autre part, la scalabilité verticale.
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Furthermore, in case of a strong increase in the company’s activity or in case of a strong increase in demand, a software or a program must have the objective of being able to maintain its functionality and performance thanks to its scalability.

In addition to software and program, scalability can concern flows, volumes, a space time etc…

The objective of the scalability of a company’s products and services is to enable it to achieve economies of scale quickly.

There are two types of scalability: horizontal scalability and vertical scalability.

What is the difference between horizontal and vertical scalability?

Vertical scalability consists of adding resources to a server in order to increase the capacity of the softwares, program or products concerned.

Horizontal scalability consists in developing new servers automatically or manually to perform similar tasks.