Sumbria - Here are some satisfied customers of Unisys and Compaq XEON-BASED servers.
One of them is the NASDAQ !
Paul
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infoworld.com
Performance gains recommend four-way
Xeon-based systems
By Ephraim Schwartz and Andy Santoni
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:19 AM PT, Jul 4, 1998
Early adopters of Xeon four-way systems appear to be pleased with the new levels of performance, even while system providers are planning for the next processor upgrade.
Users are getting immediate gains in performance from Xeon-based systems.
Nasdaq found performance of the Unisys four-way Xeon comparable and, in some cases, better than Nasdaq's 10-way Pentium Pro system.
"From 9:30 to 9:34 we can see a trade queue of 4,000 trades. By 9:34 it is down to zero using a 10-way [Pentium] Pro system. On the Xeon [four-way] the queue was only half as high, and it was down to zero in 1.5 minutes less time," said Joe Semego, production services database operations manager at Nasdaq, in Rockville, Md.
Another IT manager cites similar performance gains.
"In transactional processing the Compaq four-way was more than double the performance of a comparable Pentium Pro system. And that was with no changes to the I/O subsystem," said R. Britton Mayo, director of information technology at Pennzoil, in Houston.
Analysts said performance of Xeon systems can scale even higher -- and that's a big benefit to end-users.
"Basically, Windows NT scaling has improved by 40 to 50 percent overnight because of new systems based on the processors. With 2MB of Level 2 cache and the [next version] 450-MHz processor, users can expect a 55 to 65 percent gain in performance over Pentium Pro systems," said Joe Barkan, research director at the Gartner Group, in Stamford, Conn.
Unisys is also extolling the benefits of upgrading future systems.
"Unisys says when Merced is available we will have 32-way processors that can be segmented to eight four-way processors, each working on a different application and running multiple OSes in multiple partitions," Semego said. "And Unisys tells us that we can swap out the Xeon for Merced in the same chassis when it becomes available."
Barkan advised that IT departments consider holding off purchasing the current 400-MHz four-way systems, although they have not even shipped yet.
"By the time these 400-MHz systems are shipping in volume, the 450-MHz Xeon will be close behind," Barkan said. "I'm considering telling my clients that if you're not in a big hurry, wait another
month or two and skip the 400-MHz systems and go with the 450-MHz systems."
One Unisys account executive has a different perspective.
"Katmai, and Tanner, and 500-MHz Deschutes -- it is a continuously moving performance spectrum. You can't stand still and not make a decision," said Bryan di Lella, an account manager
at Unisys, in Blue Bell, Pa.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at intel.com.
Ephraim Schwartz is an editor at large and Andy Santoni is a senior writer for InfoWorld.
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