Async Client with 1K connections?

[William Chang]

Before I take the plunge, I'd appreciate any advice on the feasibility
and degree of difficulty of the following...

I need extremely efficient and robust _client_ software for some
common protocols like HTTP and POP3, supporting 1,000 simultaneous
independent connections and commensurate network throughput.  The data
get written to files or sockets, so no GUI needed.

I am not a Python programmer :-( but I am a "fan" :-) and I have been
reading about asyncore/Medusa/Twisted -- which would be my best bet?

Any advantage to using a particular unix/version -- Linux 32/64bit? 
FreeBSD 4/5? Solaris Sun/Intel?

If anyone who is expert in this area may be available, please contact
me at "w c h a n g at a f f i n i dot com".  (I'm in the SF Bay Area.)

My background is C -- I was the principal author of Infoseek (RIP), 
including the Python modularization that was the core of Ultraseek aka
Inktomi Enterprise Search aka Verity.  (For those of you old enough to
remember!)  Unfortunately, I moved upstairs and never did much Python.

Thanks in advance,  --William