Compaq-386 + 30 Async Ports = Overload?

[Jeffrey Chilton/Development]

A friend wonders if he can pack a Compaq-386 running SCO Unix with 4 DigiBoard 
brand smart async cards and keep up with the following requirements:

    Total input, 1 256-byte packet per second, average;
    Processing of packet, above, approx. 0.25 seconds;
    Output 1 256-byte result packet on each of 30 lines.

He's proposing some sort of metro area distributed system and would very much
like to hear from someone who uses (or sells) similarly configured systems.

Our thanks in advance.

Jeffrey Chilton
uunet!pyrdc!eliot!jeffc