Need help to select technology

Question

Recently we got a project which can be developed either in J2EE or Asp.Net (no restriction from client). Client is asking to give best solution to maintain the project in long run.

Here I don't want to discuss about "Java vs .NET" but need to know which one is preferable to reduce maintenance cost. If I choose any of these technologies, which one will require less development and maintenance cost. Also consider recruiting people like developers, server administrators and software purchase and etc.

If I go to Java, I can choose any Operation System, Web Server, Application Server and database. But for a kind of enterprise applications will there be any low cost when compared to MS technologies?

Simply putting, assume I need to have 100 web servers, 30 database servers. Which one will require less investment?

Answer 1

Unless the application is to join a group of existing applications that are largely one of these two types, there is no simple answer.

Maintenance cost will be driven by factors such as:

• availability of skilled labour for the technology/development platform (i.e. are there more ASP.NET developers available or J2EE?)
• maintenance costs for the underlying technology platform (e.g. there are many options on Java such as Oracle Solaris on Oracle hardware vs RedHat Linux on Dell hardware vs Debian Linux on Amazon's Cloud service)
• sophistication of the development tools and supporting third party components available for the specific problem domain (e.g. if the application was heavily reliant on interoperable integration with a partner's WebSphere environment then Java may be more sensible, while if the application needs to generate complex Microsoft Office documents then ASP.NET may be a better option)

If you're not sure, engage a consultant specialising in architecture to assist. Doing so is likely to save a lot of money in the long run, particularly with larger applications.