Wrong. If you do any of these you're scaling vertically, even by that definition:
* Replace the CPU with a faster one, but with the same number of cores. Or simply run the same one at a higher clock rate.
* Add memory, or use faster memory.
* Add storage, or use faster storage.
These are all forms of vertical scaling because they reduce the time it takes to process a single transaction, either by reducing waits or by increasing computation speed.
> It's also contradicted by both the article we're discussing and the wikipedia article
The article agrees with this definition. Transaction latency decreases iff vertical scale increases. Transaction throughput increases with either form of scaling. Without this interpretation, the analogy to conveyor belts makes no sense.
