Workload management in an asynchronous client/server computer system

A data processing apparatus for carrying out workload management with respect to a group of servers in an asynchronous client/server computing system, has: a device for receiving a work request from a client application; a device for consulting availability data concerning the group of servers and for selecting a particular server in the group to be used to satisfy the received work request on the basis of the consulted availability data, where the consulted availability data is always used in its present state when the work request is received, irrespective of whether availability data has been received for each server in the group, in order to select a server from the group; and a device for placing the received work request in a transmission queue where it awaits transmission to the particular server in the group.