INDUSTRY

IBM announced that an IBM POWER5 processor-based IBM eServer, running DB2 Universal Database, has attained a milestone in computing history, soaring past the barrier of three million transactions per minute on the TPC-C benchmark and setting a new world record for computing speed. Until today, no other posted results in history had exceeded 1.2 million transactions per minute (tpmC) according to the TPC. On the crucial TPC-C benchmark test, the IBM eServer p5 595 and DB2 combination not only tripled the performance of the HP Integrity Superdome but also posted a price/performance advantage of 37 percent to become the fastest computing processing solution ever. Sun has not posted a TPC-C benchmark result since 2001. To set the new TPC-C record, IBM leveraged the combined power of its POWER5 processor-based server -- the eServer p5 595 -- and IBM's leading-edge AIX 5L operating system and DB2, the industry's leading database. Details on the eServer p5 595 Record Setting Performance*: System IBM eServer p5 595 Processors 64 POWER5 processors (1.9 GHz) Database DB2 Universal Database v8.2 Operating System AIX 5L V5.3 TpmC (TPC-C Version 5.0) 3.21 million transactions per minute $/tpmC 5.19 * as published on http://www.tpc.org The TPC-C benchmark is an industry standard for measuring the ability of a server to process complex queries and large volumes of business data. The new IBM system achieved 3,210,540 million transactions per minute (tpmC) at $5.19 per transaction ($/tmpC). The performance results easily beat any other comparable system or database solution currently posting results with TPC. "The TPC-C benchmark world record is a commanding expression of innovation and exemplifies IBM's commitment to new levels of UNIX capability through the Power Architecture™," stated Adalio Sanchez, general manager, IBM eServer pSeries. "This innovation empowers our clients to do even more sophisticated tasks at tremendous levels of efficiency. These results demonstrate the strength of an integrated IBM solution of POWER5, AIX 5L, DB2 and TotalStorage." IBM eServer p5 595 -- Ultra-Powerful UNIX Computing The 64-way p5-595, based on POWER5 microprocessor technology, has nearly three-times the commercial performance and twice the capacity of its predecessor, the eServer p690. The new system introduces new economics to the IT industry by providing the ability to run over 250 virtual servers on a single machine, empowers clients to significantly reduce the costs of managing technology infrastructures and consolidate entire data centers onto a single high-performance, highly scalable server to enable hundreds of applications. Performance Advantages over HP and Sun When matched up against comparable systems from HP and Sun, the IBM p5-595 far outpaces its rivals: -- Three times the performance of the HP Integrity Superdome, based on TPC-C benchmark results. -- More than doubled the performance of the 64-way HP Superdome for both Java serving and HPC workloads -- demonstrating 118% better per- processor performance than the 1.5 GHz Itanium 2. -- 5.9 times the performance of the HP PA-RISC Superdome, based on the TPC-C benchmark results. -- The 64-way p5-595 more than tripled the performance of the 104-way Sun 15K server for Java serving -- beating the per-processor performance of the Sun server by 493%. -- More than doubled the integer performance of the 64-way Sun Fire E25K and the floating point performance(6) of the 64-way Sun Fire 15K. -- 4.3 times the per-processor performance of the Sun Fire E25K based on the two tier SAP SD Standard Application Benchmark -- 2.4 times the HPC performance of the 104-way Sun Fire 15K based on the Linpack HPC benchmark Industry Benchmark Leadership The IBM eServer p5 595 system is part of one of the most decorated families of systems in the history of performance benchmarks. Some of IBM's numerous industry-leading UNIX® server benchmarks include: -- Best overall performance in the two tie SAP SD Standard Application Benchmark -- Industry leader on the SPECjbb2000 benchmark -- Industry leader on the Siebel 7.7 Industry Applications Performance and Scalability Benchmark -- Industry leader on the SPECompM2001 benchmark Raytheon Receives First p5 595 Shipment IBM also announced today that the Raytheon Company has acquired the IBM eServer p5 595 for use in an advanced weather systems program on behalf of DoD, NOAA and NASA. Raytheon is part of the NPOESS team led by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Space Technology. Raytheon, an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, and information technology, will use the p5-595 to handle weather information compiled by environmental satellites orbiting the Earth. "Raytheon is the first company to own and deploy this system," stated Mike Mader, NPOESS program director for Raytheon. "The p5-595 will helps us to bring incredible performance to our customer through the NPOESS program." Advanced UNIX Operating System AIX 5L Version 5.3 is the most advanced version of IBM's award-winning UNIX platform -- taking on demand computing to the next level for clients across the globe. AIX 5L V5.3 delivers outstanding throughput and performance levels with new innovations in simultaneous multi-threading. Combined with support for IBM's advanced IBM Virtualization Engine™ technology, AIX 5L V5.3 helps clients dramatically increase their server utilization and consolidate workloads for more efficient management. AIX 5L Version 5.3 represents IBM's ongoing commitment to excellence in the UNIX marketplace, and is the latest advance in a long record of IBM operating system innovation. Breakthrough Relational Database Capabilities IBM DB2 Universal Database v8.2, which began shipping in September, delivers breakthrough autonomic computing features including the capability that allows the database to automatically manage, optimize and even "learn" from itself by finding the fastest path to critical business data in a fraction of the time -- without human intervention. As a result, companies can now reduce time spent on administrative tasks.