COSTA MESA, CA -- Emulex Corp. (Nasdaq:EMLX), a leading supplier of storage networking host bus adapters (HBAs), today announced that the company's virtual interface (VI) host bus adapters enabled a breakthrough TPC-C performance benchmark on a cluster of IBM eServer(a) xSeries(b) systems running Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000 Datacenter(TM) and SQL Server 2000(TM). The record-setting performance was based on the independent TPC-C benchmark, achieving a cost of $22.58(1) per transaction. The IBM eServer xSeries system, code named SuperNova, processed a record 688,220 transactions per minute using a cluster of 32 x370 servers, each powered by eight 900 MHz Intel(R) Pentium(R)III processors, running Windows 2000 Datacenter Server and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition with VI support. The 32 servers were interconnected using Emulex's award-winning CL1000 VI host bus adapters and dual CL5300 cluster switches. "The SuperNova benchmark demonstrates the scalability of IBM eServers and validates the ability of IBM's Intel-based systems to meet the data access demands of today's data centers," said Jeff Benck, director, product marketing, IBM eServer xSeries. "The combination of IBM eServers systems and Emulex VI products enable data intensive environments to scale on demand." The VI architecture eliminates typical network limitations such as high system overhead and latency, accelerating application performance and data throughput. As a result, server CPU processing is reduced, enabling higher database performance and support for a greater number of users. "Emulex's VI HBAs and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 create a highly scalable database environment to meet the demands of growing enterprises," said Gordon Mangione, vice president for SQL Server at Microsoft. "Emulex's CL1000 and CL5300 switches provide a robust backbone for scalable SQL Server 2000 environments." "Emulex VI HBAs have once again proven to be the de facto network for database acceleration and scalability -- delivering superior application scalability and performance when combined with SQL Server 2000 and IBM xSeries Servers," said Gareth Taube, senior vice president of Emulex's IP Storage Networking Group. "The TPC-C benchmark demonstrates that Emulex VI products are highly scalable and support today's demanding e-commerce applications, while delivering unsurpassed application performance." For additional information visit www.emulex.com or www.ibm.com