IBM Reasserts Lead in Scaleable BI Solutions

IBM announced that its Intel-based NUMA-Q Model E410 system, running DB2 Universal Database V7.1, is the industry's first server to demonstrate linear scaleability in the TPC-H benchmark at the 300 GB scale factor. The NUMA-Q server, which has produced record-breaking TPC-H results for performance and price/performance against the other systems tested, is the only server with single system scaleability results across 32, 48 and 64 processors.

"Our customers' success running large-scale business intelligence applications hinges on our ability to provide highly scaleable solutions to support database queries from users throughout an organization," said Ian Miller, vice president, Strategic Business Development, IBM Web Servers. "Today's TPC-H results highlight our core-competency and leadership in high-performance, cost-effective solutions for rapid-growth environments."

The TPC-H results show NUMA-Q E410 with 32 processors leading in price/performance over 32-processor systems tested from Compaq and Hewlett Packard. In addition to the leading price/performance results among these tested 32-processor systems, the NUMA-Q E410 demonstrated impressive performance gains scaling to 48 and 64 processors with a scaling efficiency of up to 98% in the benchmark. Scaleability, as measured by scaling efficiency, refers to a system's ability to achieve performance gains as resources are added. A scaling efficiency of 100% reflects a linear increase in performance as the system grows.

The E410 is built on IBM's unique third generation NUMA architecture and provides massive scaleability required to address growth in concurrent users and raw data. The system is optimized to offer customers flexibility in building infrastructure for large-scale e-business, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and business intelligence applications.

Demonstrating Unmatched Scaleability on the TPC-H Business Intelligence Benchmark

The TPC-H benchmark models a business intelligence environment in which complex ad hoc business oriented queries are submitted against a large database. The purpose is to assess a system's performance and price/performance in a typical BI environment supporting both queries and updates.

The NUMA-Q server was tested in configurations of 32, 48 and 64 Intel Pentium III Xeon processors running at 700 MHz with memory ranging from 32 GB to 64 GB and included IBM's industry leading fibre channel subsystem for maximum I/O efficiency and dynamic partitioning capabilities to enhance system performance and availability.

In TPC-H benchmark testing at the 300 GB scale factor, scaleability across 8, 12, and 16-quad NUMA-Q systems running IBM's DB2 Universal Database Enterprise-Extended Edition Version 7.1 and DYNIX/ptx version 4.5.1 averaged at above 95%.

DB2 Universal Database serves as the foundation for industry-leading business intelligence and e-business applications and provides superior scaleability and performance. Because of its shared nothing database architecture, DB2 Universal Database EEE is able to fully exploit the linear scaleability of NUMA-Q servers.

"The record setting price/performance and scaleability of NUMA-Q and DB2 Universal Database on the TPC-H benchmark is a strong indication of the superior performance and low total cost of ownership customers can expect when implementing the solution in fast growing e-business and business intelligence environments," said Jim Kelly, vice president of marketing, IBM Data Management Solutions.

For more information on this benchmark, visit the TPC-H Website at www.tpc.org.

About DB2 Universal Database

As the foundation for e-business, DB2 Universal Database is the industry's first multimedia, Web-ready relational database management system, strong enough to meet the demands of large corporations and flexible enough to serve medium-sized and small e-businesses. DB2 Universal Database combines integrated power for business intelligence, content management, enterprise information portals and e-business with industry-leading performance and reliability to drive the most demanding industry solutions. DB2 Universal Database together with Internet technology makes information easily accessible, available and secure. There are more than 40 million DB2 users from over 300,000 companies worldwide relying on IBM data management solutions. For more information please visit www.software.ibm.com/data.

About NUMA-Q Servers

NUMA-Q servers offer industry leading scalable Intel-based server solutions for e-business with industry leading Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture and I/O technologies. NUMA-Q servers are optimized for the scaleability, availability and manageability requirements of large and rapidly growing e-business infrastructures. There are more than 10,000 NUMA-Q installations worldwide, including some of the world's largest and most sophisticated business intelligence, CRM and ERP environments. For further information about the IBM NUMA-Q brand, phone (800) 257-9044 or visit our Web site at www.ibm.com/servers.

The benchmark results were attained in a laboratory environment. Specific customer results from the NUMA-Q 2000 Model E410 servers may vary based on workload and other factors.

Contact Catherine King, Public Relations, IBM, 503-578-7820.