Learning from the masters how to overcome performance bottlenecks and response time delays typical of large distributed systems. "Chris is one of the industry's most important thinkers on database design - I would highly recommend this book to readers trying to get through the terms and focus on what really makes a difference in achieving high performance distributed systems." - David Stodder, Editor-in-Chief, Database Programming & Design performance is not just a matter of tuning the code or the computing environment - starting with designing performance into the application from scratch, and includes all phases of system life cycle. And he covers all key topics, with chapters on Middleware, Architecture, Design, Tools, Database, Replication, Warehousing, and Transaction Monitors. Loosley conclusions about the architecture and design of enterprise systems challenge many current middleware trends.