Servers... (better thread)

Ok,
I posted a thread a minute ago about this, but it didn't hae enough info.
Ok this is what I need to know.
If I was to make a network like AIM, MSN, or YIM (all instant messaging networks) how many servers would I need and how much do you think it would cost to fully develop it?
Another thing is is where to buy servers. There are somemany and I want some cheap but good ones (whoesale if I need that many servers).
So anyone have a rough idea?
Rep left for a good answer
Thanks
Mike

 

Millions of dollars, literally. I'm sure all of these networks have geographically dispersed networks. You'd really need the traffic, revenue, and of course, money to justify such requirements. If you don't mind me asking, what are you planning on doing?

 

You can start with 1 server, and if your software picks up, start adding servers to the network...
Best thing to do is start locally, (country or smaller region), market your software. Once the revenue starts coming in, expand.
A chat software is simply a "client side" app connecting to a "server side database".
"To some extent", your coders can control how much server resources will be used. Not limiting the information, but by downloading smaller pieces of data etc...
Best of luck

 

A very rough estimate:
2000 users at the same time should not be a problem for one server.
In order to grow to 2000 users at the same time you probably need to have like 40000 registered users?

 

yeah the likes of Yahoo, AIM & MSN have literally spent millions on developing their chat software, so to start this kind of thing is going to require a huge investment if you plan on being a competitor with companies like those. i agree with JEET, start locally, and expand as the network grows and revenue increases. you dont want to spend thousands of dollars on something that you have no idea will work or not, so start small, get bigger as the network expands.