This should not turn into a pissing contest and flamewar.
I should not have responded to imature post and I should stopped at my first post.
To stop this. I will say sorry if I hurt your pride. Sorry bro. Peace.
But just to inform you. I am much updated with technology. I can give reference to what I have done and experiences.
To answer your points:
-virtualization will not help. it will only add overhead.
-10mpbs is 10 megabit per second. Add ethernet and tcp/ip overhead. This will only have about 300 kilobytes per second throughput max.
-10 page report can have 1000 records. 100 data lines per page.
-real time stock. if an item is stocked in and out for many years. It can have 1000 records in one time. Calculating this real-time means requesting records from the server real-time.
-pictures. I will not say more.
-overkill, not so. The price of 1 big switch is fairly the same as 2 switches.