If you were asked to design system that will allow immigrations and airlines to check a presented passport against Interrpol's database of 40 million stolen passports, what would be the best database, server and OS to use? Would the network be the limiting factor in terms of performance and the time the system takes to deliver the status of the check?
http://nz.totaltravel.yahoo.com/news-opinions/news/a/-/21897763/interpol-passports-on-flights-must-be-checked/