Unisys 8-Way Servers Set New World Records

The Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5085 set new world records for Intel-based server price and performance in two industry-standard tests of computing power for e-business and transaction processing, Unisys Corporation said.

In both tests, the Unisys server also set new performance records for any non-clustered server running Microsoft SQL Server 2000, the newest version of Microsoft's powerful database management software.

The results show that Unisys Intel-based servers, leveraging Unisys proven expertise in transaction-intensive e-business and the capabilities of advanced Microsoft and Intel enterprise technology, compete strongly on a performance basis in the market segment once dominated by UNIX/RISC technology, at a fraction of the price.

In the first test, conducted using the Transaction Processing Council's "C" methodology for measuring online transaction processing (OLTP) performance, the Unisys ES5085 achieved 61,390.43 transactions per minute (tpmC) at a cost per transaction of $13.00. The server's performance exceeded that of the previous record holder for Intel-based 8-processor servers by 7 percent.

The ES5085 was equipped with eight 700-MHz Intel Pentium III Xeon processors and 32 Gbytes of memory, and ran Microsoft's Windows 2000 Datacenter Server operating system and SQL Server 2000 database.

The second test measured e-business performance using the TPC-W methodology, which simulates online retail, browsing and business-to-business activity. In the test, the Unisys ES5085 delivered 3,008.1 web interactions per second (WIPS) at a cost per WIPS of $75.29.

The server more than doubled the performance achieved by any competitive system at about one third the cost. It was equipped with four 700-MHz Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, two GBytes of memory, Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

The TPC-C benchmark measures throughput in business transactions per minute for a simulated order entry/distribution environment. Specifically, it measures how many new order transactions per minute a system generates while the system is simultaneously executing four other transaction types (payments, order status updates, deliveries and stock-level changes).

The TPC-W benchmark models businesses (retail store, software distribution, airline reservation, electronic stock trades, etc.) that market and sell over the Internet. TPC-W provides a performance and price/performance comparison of commercially available technologies on which these environments are based.

The benchmark measures the performance of systems supporting users browsing, ordering and conducting transaction-oriented business activities. The benchmark also includes security and transaction time requirements.

"Less than a year ago, the industry's conventional wisdom was that you needed high-priced UNIX/RISC servers to achieve these performance levels," said Peter Samson, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Server Business, Unisys Systems and Technology. "Unisys is driving a change in that perception. What's particularly notable is the speed with which technologies from Unisys, Microsoft and Intel are introducing the new economics of open-systems computing at all levels of the enterprise."

The Unisys ES5085 configuration as tested by the TPC-C benchmark will be available on January 15, 2001. The configuration tested under the TPC-W methodology is available as of November 14, 2000. Audited test data is posted on the TPC Web site, www.tpc.org.

About Unisys

Unisys is an e-business solutions company whose 36,000 employees help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy. Unisys people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organizations for success in this new era.

The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys e-@ction Solutions for e-business based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multivendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies.

The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers. Unisys is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area.

For more information on the company, access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web at www.unisys.com.

Contact Unisys, Blue Bell, Steve Holzman, 215-986-5098, stephen.holzman@unisys.com.