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Multiple Transmitters will always be faster more performant because Transmission has dedicated resources and threads available per Transmitter. At start up, tags are "scanned" to get current configuration and values. When there are multiple edge nodes in a single Transmitter, tags are scanned tag scanning and Birth messages message publishing are published sequentially sequential for each Sparkplug edge node. When edge nodes are spread across multiple Transmitters, in a one-to-one relationship for example, getting tag configuration/values and publishing Sparkplug Birth messages will be done in parallel across all Transmitters and Transmitter edge nodes. Adding Transmitters will allow for better scaling across more tags and Sparkplug edge nodes / devices, but will be more resource intensive and require more CPU and RAM. 

Certainly fewer Fewer Transmitters with dynamically discovered Sparkplug assets reduce the overall amount of configuration to manage and makes it simple to add new edge nodes to existing Transmitters, but work per edge node will be done sequentially. 

Tag Limits

There is no limit to the number of tags a Transmitter can consume or a Sparkplug edge node/device can encapsulate. Many customers try to keep edge node tag counts at or below 50K tags to reduce Birth build times, message size on the wire and processing required on downstream consumers, typically Sparkplug host applications and processing required for Sparkplug Birth messages. 

Configuration

Fewer Transmitters with dynamically discovered Sparkplug assets reduce the overall amount of configuration to manage and makes it simple to add new edge nodes to existing Transmitters, but work per edge node will be done sequentially. If creating or managing many Transmitters at scale, consider using Transmission's scriptable configuration APIs.