SSA and HP ship enhanced BPCS for Unix

SSA has announced BPCS V6.0.04 for Unix, on schedule. This enhanced version of BPCS from SSA and Hewlett-Packard offers performance and scalability improvements - including a two- to 10-time performance gain and five-time scalability increase when tuned to HP`s specifications - as verified by benchmark testing conducted by HP. Implementation of new BPCS V6.0.04 is underway at 30 companies around the globe.

"SSA is right on schedule with enhanced BPCS V6.0.04 for Unix," says Reg Mitchell, MD of local distributor Armada/SSA. "SSA`s alliance and joint development efforts with HP are paying off."

Robert Nussbaum, VP of product management at SSA, adds: "Implementation of SSA`s new code and corresponding tools is running smoothly."

SSA is also working with HP to develop and deploy a Windows NT version of BPCS.

The joint SSA and HP benchmark tested the enterprise-wide functionality of BPCS Client/Server V6.0.04, including configurable enterprise financials, supply chain management, and multi-mode manufacturing. The HP K570 supported 100 simultaneous users in a two-tier (combined application and database server) configuration. Conversion of "simultaneous" users to real or attached users is typically in a range of 3:1 or 4:1. Using the more conservative 3:1 ratio, this means that BPCS Client/Server can support 300 real users on a single K570 system.

In addition, HP`s V2250 database server running Oracle and five networked K570 application servers supported 500 simultaneous users. Using the above ratio, 1 500 users are realised in this configuration.