Software Engineering: Scalability (Definitions)

"A characteristic of a system that provides increased performance with the addition of resources. SQL Server is scalable. For example, it can use memory or additional processors to accommodate more user connections." (Microsoft Corporation, "SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit", 1999)

"The ability to accommodate future growth requirements." (Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross, "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" 2nd Ed., 2002)

"The capacity of a thing to expand to accommodate future requirements." (Sharon Allen & Evan Terry, "Beginning Relational Data Modeling" 2nd Ed., 2005)

"Used to indicate that an application can handle an increased workload to accommodate a growing number of users. Scalability is accomplished by either scaling up (by increasing the hardware capacity of the current server) or scaling out, (by increasing the number of servers)." (Sara Morganand & Tobias Thernstrom , "MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit : Designing and Optimizing Data Access by Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - Exam 70-442", 2007)

"The capability of a product, service, or platform to be readily enlarged or expanded to handle greater capacity than offered by a single instantiation, whether through replication, customization, or additional supporting elements." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"The ability of an application to maintain acceptable response time and throughput when the number of simultaneous users increases." (John Goodson & Robert A Steward, "The Data Access Handbook", 2009)

"The ability to support increasing numbers of users in cost-effective increments without adversely affecting business operations." (Paulraj Ponniah, "Data Warehousing Fundamentals for IT Professionals", 2010)

"The ability to scale to support larger or smaller volumes of data and more or less users. The ability to increase or decrease size or capability in cost-effective increments with minimal impact on the unit cost of business and the procurement of additional services." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The capability of the software product to be upgraded to accommodate increased loads." (Requirements Engineering Qualifications Board, "Standard glossary of terms used in Requirements Engineering", 2011)

"Being able to add additional capacity incrementally, quickly and as needed." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"The ability to increase or decrease size or capability in cost-effective increments with minimal impact on the unit cost of business and the procurement of additional services." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration", 2012)

"In regard to hardware, the capability to go from small to large amounts of processing power with the same architecture. It also applies to software products such as databases, in which case it refers to the consistency of performance per unit of power as hardware resources increase." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"The ability of a software application to function well and with minimal loss of performance, despite changing computing environments; the volume of computations, users, or data. Scalable software is able to take full advantage of increases in computing capability such as those that are provided by the use of SMP hardware and threaded processing." (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, "Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights", 2014)

"It is the capacity of the system to handle increasing amount work without affecting existing system." (Dharmendra T Patel, "Distributed Computing for Internet of Things (IoT)", 2019)

"Ability to perform in agreed function/parameters when the workload or scope changes" (ITIL)