IBM Servers Place First in New Performance Study
SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 1998--IBM has received
the highest overall ranking for its UNIX servers in an innovative
benchmark-testing study of server performance.
The independent study, conducted by D.H. Brown Associates, ranked
IBM's two high-end UNIX servers -- the RS/6000 S70 and the
RS/6000 SP -- number one (63) with a 14-point lead over its
closest competitor Sun Microsystems (49).
This first-of-its-kind study compares server performance using a
weighted average of several industry-standard benchmark results
that measure general commercial applicability, online transaction
processing decision support, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
and scientific applications(1). The result is an overall
numerical ranking, or a "Composite Performance Metric" (CPM),
that is designed to help IT managers gauge all-around server
performance.
Following IBM and Sun were the high-end servers from Hewlett
Packard (44), Compaq (41), Silicon Graphics Inc. (40) and NCR
(21) respectively.
"The IBM RS/6000 achieved the number one position in our initial
rankings by maintaining balance with solid scores in all areas
important to IT managers," said Richard Partridge, senior
research analyst for D.H. Brown. "IBM's lead shows the
versatility of the RS/6000 family, and for users who wish to
deploy a variety of applications on one platform, versatility is
an important attribute."
"We know that our customers turn to RS/6000 systems for many
types of applications including both commercial and technical
computing," said Rodney Adkins, general manager for IBM RS/6000.
"The D.H. Brown study offers IT managers a fresh and valuable new
perspective on server performance characteristics."
According to D.H. Brown, the composite was developed to help IT
managers focus benchmark data into an overall ranking that gives
them better information to formulate their purchasing strategies
and in turn deliver benefits to their businesses.
As a follow up to the study, D.H. Brown plans to continue
refining the CPM with an update scheduled for early 1999.
(1) CPM employs a weighted average of the following UNIX-focused
benchmarks: TPC-C, TPC-D and SPECint/fp 95, SAP, NotesBench,
Linpack and Stream.
Additional information can be found on www.rs6000.ibm.com or
www.dhbrown.com |
