Seperate instances vs. seperate schemas

I would like to get feedback from this group on the following:

I am dba for a small software company. We currently have 2 products which run on Oracle with Powerbuilder front-ends. The products are similar in that they share some common table names and data.

I currently have 4 seperate instances running..... a production and test instance for each of the two products.

The current debate between the developers and myself is whether these should remain as seperate instances, or be combined into one instance as different schemas. I don't believe either scenario is ideal, but am curious to hear the thoughts of others on the subject.

Thanks for any insight on this matter.

Kevin Received on Fri Dec 05 1997 - 00:00:00 CST