Microsoft Announces Record Benchmark With Microsoft SQL Server And Compaq ProLiant 5000
REDMOND, Wash., June 3, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today affirmed its support for Compaq Computer Corp.’s new Intel® Pentium®
Pro-based ProLiant
™5000 server systems. The new Compaq® ProLiant server, when coupled with Microsoft®
BackOffice
™
family server applications such as Microsoft SQL Server
™
, delivers midrange systems performance at half the cost.
Microsoft announced the results of an audited Transaction Processing Performance Council Benchmark C (TPC-C
™), demonstrating that Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5 delivers the highest TPC-C performance ever published on the Microsoft Windows NT®
Server network operating system.
Microsoft SQL Server and the Compaq ProLiant 5000 delivered 5676 tpmC
™
(transactions per minute) at a cost of $136 per transaction. This benchmark simulates a real-world environment with 5,000 concurrent users and more than 380 GB of data storage. The record-setting benchmarks were made possible through a combination of Compaq’s ProLiant server technology, Intel’s next-generation Pentium Pro microprocessor, and performance improvements built into Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, such as insert row-level locking. For a total system cost of $770,272, this combination of Microsoft SQL Server and Compaq’s ProLiant 5000 provides better performance and price/performance than many systems with up to 20 processors and total system costs of close to $2 million or more.
“We are very pleased that Microsoft SQL Server has set yet another performance record running Compaq’s new Pentium Pro-based servers, improving by 55 percent the record we set with ProLiant 4500 just two months ago,”
said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the desktop and business systems division at Microsoft.
“These benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft SQL Server meets enterprise performance requirements and provides the lowest-cost solution for business-critical database applications.”
With Microsoft BackOffice, the Microsoft and Compaq collaboration has provided many tangible results and benefits to their joint customers. As an example, the following table shows the tremendous progress achieved in the area of TPC-C results with Microsoft SQL Server in the past nine months, demonstrating over 130 percent better performance and a more than 40 percent improvement in price/performance:
“The combination of Microsoft SQL Server and Compaq’s ProLiant 5000 has achieved not only another record-setting database performance on Microsoft Windows NT Server, but also the industry’s best price/performance for multiprocessor servers,”
said Gary Stimac, senior vice president and general manager, Compaq systems division.
“The Compaq and Microsoft relationship is continually yielding benefits to corporate computing customers with increased levels of performance, data availability, investment protection and value. Today’s announcement takes that collaboration to a new level.”
Pacesetter ’96 Program
Microsoft is also a major participant in the Pacesetter ’96 program sponsored by Compaq and Intel Corp. Pacesetter ’96 provides leading software vendors early access to Compaq ProLiant Pentium Pro-based platforms for testing, integrating and optimizing their enterprise applications.
To ensure customers a seamless transition to Intel’s Pentium Pro technology – and to accelerate the deployment of client/server solutions on Windows NT Server-based industry-standard platforms – Microsoft and Compaq are working together with Intel to integrate and optimize Microsoft’s complete line of enterprise software products for Compaq Pentium Pro-based servers.
Microsoft and Compaq Frontline Collaboration
Microsoft and Compaq have been working together for more than 10 years to offer customers seamless integration of industry-standard systems technology for distributed enterprise computing environments including corporate Internet and intranet solutions. Milestones include Compaq’s support for the Microsoft Internet Information Server, delivery of the industry’s first Microsoft BackOffice-integrated software and system package, and record-setting benchmark results on Compaq systems running Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and SAP®
R/3
™
on Compaq platforms.
The Microsoft BackOffice family is built on Windows NT Server, the only network operating system that is multipurpose, scales from the workgroup to the enterprise, and has intranet and Internet functionality built in. Microsoft BackOffice consists of Windows NT Server, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Systems Management Server and SNA Server.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
N.B.: Unless otherwise noted, references to TPC-C results are as of May 30, 1996.
Microsoft, BackOffice and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corp.
Compaq is a registered trademark and ProLiant is a trademark of Compaq Computer Corp.
TPC-C and tpmC are registered certification marks of Transaction Processing Performance Council.
