San Francisco, CA, February 16, 2000 -- Unisys Corporation today announced that it has set a new world performance record for eight processor Intel-based servers in the first industry-standard measurements of online transaction processing (OLTP) performance using the Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server operating system. The Intel-based Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5085R achieved performance in the same class but at about one-third the price of the fastest eight-processor servers based on UNIX and RISC technology.
The results show that Unisys Intel-based servers, leveraging the substantial enterprise capabilities provided by the advanced Microsoft Windows 2000 operating environment and Intel processors, are rapidly eroding market territory once dominated by UNIX/RISC technology, at a fraction of the price.
The Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5085R, equipped with eight 550-MHz Pentium III Xeon processors, achieved 48,767.77 transactions per minute (tpmC) at a cost per transaction of $20.13. The test was conducted using the Transaction Processing Council`s "C" methodology, the industry`s standard measure of OLTP performance. The Unisys system performance range reached that of the UNIX/RISC industry`s fastest eight-processor server, which achieved 49,306 tpmC at a cost per transaction of $56.67/tpmC. The performance delivered by UNIX-based eight-way server was thus nearly three times more expensive than that delivered by the Unisys ES5085R-based test configuration. Audited test data is posted on the TPC web site, www.tpc.org <http://www.tpc.org>.
The Unisys server also improved upon the industry`s best Windows NT performance by over 20 percent.
The TPC-C benchmark measures throughput in business transactions per minute for a simulated order entry/distribution environment. Specifically, it measures how many new order transactions per minute a system generates while the system is simultaneously executing four other transaction types (payments, order status updates, deliveries and stock-level changes). "We are impressed with how far Intel- and Microsoft-based servers have come in matching UNIX/RISC performance in so short a time," said Don Johnson, head of Enterprise Server Business, Unisys Systems & Technology. "The breakthrough can be traced in large part to the enormous increase in the amount of memory that can be addressed by Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. By proving that Intel- and Microsoft-based servers from Unisys can match the performance of UNIX/RISC systems at about one third the price, we are arming data center managers with information they need to take advantage of the new economics of open-systems computing at all levels of the enterprise." Designed to handle mainframe-class workloads, Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server will scale to 32 processors and will address up to 64 Gbytes of memory. The Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES7000, an Intel-based mainframe supporting up to 32 processors, was designed to be the highest performing single-server platform for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. The ES7000 provides an array of computing capabilities required for enterprise-class e-business computing and well known to users of large-scale computers, but unprecedented in computing environments based on Microsoft and Intel technology.
"With these test results, we are witnessing the emergence of a new era in computing economy," said Paul Flessner, vice president of SQL Server and middleware development, Microsoft Corp. "This is proof that the performance of SQL Server 2000 and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, especially when driven by Intel-based servers from Unisys, can handle the most demanding workloads used by the largest of global enterprises and Internet businesses. At the same time, this powerful combination offers ease of administration and total cost of ownership advantages unmatched by any other hardware and software platform."
The Unisys ES5085R configuration as tested will be available on August 1, 2000. The Unisys server and all Unisys content in the test configuration is available now.
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Unisys
Unisys is an electronic business solutions company whose 36,000 employees help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy. Unisys people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organizations for success in this new era.
The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys e-@ction Solutions for electronic business based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multivendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies.
The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers.
Unisys is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area. For more information on the company, access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web at www.unisys.com . Investor information can be found at www.unisys.com/investor.