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IBM iSeries SERVER SETS SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE RECORD

IBM announced that its newly introduced IBM eServer i5 595 server, backed by POWER5 processors and IBM's Virtualization Engine technology, has set a new world record for Lotus Domino scalability and performance.

The eServer iSeries platform successfully handled 175,000 concurrent NotesBench R6 Mail Users with an average response time of 33 milliseconds. This is equivalent to managing e-mail for a population the size of the city of Geneva, Switzerland on a single IBM eServer iSeries server.

Announced October 15th, the IBM eServer i5 595 machine is the most powerful eServer iSeries server available and represents the completion of the 2004 POWER5 eServer i5 product line. The eServer i5 595 system delivers more than four times the performance of its predecessor -- the eServer iSeries 890 32- way server -- and helps customers reduce IT costs and extend business opportunities.

The announcement follows the record-setting results the IBM eServer i5 570 platform delivered exactly one month ago with the NotesBench audit -- achieving #1 for R6Mail. During its test of the new R6iNotes workload, the eServer i5 570 set a new standard by showcasing a 39 millisecond response time on a single IBM eServer i5 570 with 165,000 concurrent users. The results prove that both the i5 570 and i5 595 are some of the world's most powerful servers -- extremely capable of providing large enterprises with the scalability they need to meet growing business demands.

Customers can use the information from NotesBench reports to help with platform selection, resource budgeting and capacity planning. Additional standout eServer iSeries performances include:

• The IBM eServer i5 595 also achieved the top result in the industry in the 32-way SMP class for the SPECjbb2000 benchmark. The SPECjbb2000 benchmark evaluates the performance of servers running typical Java business applications by simulating an order processor for wholesale suppliers. It is implemented as a three-tier client/server system with emphasis on the middle tier.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key IBM Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/. For more information on IBM's on demand strategy, visit http://www.ibm.com/ondemand.