--part1_cd.581801f.28150899_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I am forwarding this info to my fellow researchers. I got it from another=20 list that I am on. Ellen >From The New York Times: > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 April 21, 2001 > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Ellis I. Web Site Is Deluged by Family Histo= rians > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 By JAYSON BLAIR > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Officials struggled yesterday to inc= rease the capacity > of an online database that >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 tracks immigrants who were brought into theU= nited States > through Ellis Island after the >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Web site was deluged with visitors. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Officials at the Statue of Liberty- Ellis Is= land > Foundation, which runs the American Family >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Immigration History Center's Web site, said=20= they have more > than quadrupled the >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 amount of computer memory in the servers tha= t run the > searchable database, which >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 went into service Tuesday. Still, they estim= ate that more > than one out of every seven >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 users who has tried to visit the Web site ha= s failed. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Foundation officials said yesterday that the= y were working > with one of their >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 sponsors, Compaq Computer, to increase their= server > capacity. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 The database, extracted from microfilms of t= he original > paper manifests, covers >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 arrivals at Ellis Island from 1892 through 1= 924, when as > many as 5,000 people a >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 day arrived for processing. The Web site, > www.ellisislandrecords.org, is proving to >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 be so popular that officials at the center h= ave been > unable to accurately count the >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 number of hits per second since Tuesday. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 "We thought we were prepared," said Peg Zitk= o, a > spokeswoman for the >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 foundation. "But we have found that the word= got out > pretty fast and that we have a >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 pretty popular site." > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 The database, which includes records of more= than 17 > million immigrants who came >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 through Ellis Island, is already powered by=20= 13 servers > based in a data center >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 created to handle large volumes of traffic a= nd > memory-consuming searches. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 Ms. Zitko said Compaq officials were conside= ring adding 5 > to 10 new servers, >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 depending on whether the site continues to r= eceive so many > hits. > >=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0