REDMOND, Wash., June 10, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that independent benchmarking tests using standard Internet protocols showed that Microsoft® Exchange Server version 5.0 outperforms and outscales Lotus Domino 4.5. Tests conducted by Shiloh Associates indicate that under four different client load scenarios with varying numbers of clients, Microsoft Exchange outscaled and outperformed Lotus Domino, performing at least
250 percent faster in every case tested. The benchmarks compared the two products under an Internet e-mail scenario using post office protocol version 3 (POP3). These tests represent the first time head-to-head performance and scalability benchmarks of Microsoft Exchange Server and Lotus Domino have been run using a standard Internet protocol. The results provide a solid representation of POP3 performance and scalability in a real-world, Internet e-mail scenario.
“Customers want their e-mail servers to do more than just support Internet standards, they also expect high performance and scalability,” said Rich Tong, vice president of marketing, personal and business systems group at Microsoft. “Because Microsoft Exchange has implemented Internet protocols natively as a core part of its architecture, it is able to provide the performance and scalability required by Microsoft’s enterprise customers, making it an ideal solution for the enterprise.”
The benchmarks are part of a larger study undertaken by Shiloh Associates to benchmark POP3 performance and scalability of leading e-mail products. Shiloh Associates is an independent network consulting company that provides network and Internet planning, management and testing services to product manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies. In addition to testing Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, Shiloh also tested Netscape Mail Server 2.02 and a beta copy of Netscape Messaging Server 3.0. Microsoft Exchange showed better performance and higher scalability than both Netscape products. However, the Netscape product license does not allow publication of specific numbers without written approval. At the time of testing, Novell GroupWise 5.1 was not included in the benchmarks, since it did not support the POP3 protocol.
Tests results of the benchmarks are as follows:
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On a departmental server with light user load, when comparing response times at 500 users, Microsoft Exchange was 12 times faster than Domino. In addition, with a response time of approximately two seconds, Microsoft Exchange scaled to 3,000 users, while Domino could support only 250 users.
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On a corporate server with light user load, when comparing response times at 1,000 users, Microsoft Exchange was five times faster than Domino. In addition, with a response time of approximately 1.2 seconds, Microsoft Exchange scaled to 6,000 users, while Domino could support only 750 users.
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On a departmental server with a medium user load, when comparing response times at 250 users, Microsoft Exchange was six times faster than Domino, and at 500 users, Microsoft Exchange was 43 times faster than Domino.
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On a corporate server with medium user load, when comparing response times at 250 users, Microsoft Exchange was 2.5 times faster than Domino, and at 500 users, Microsoft Exchange was 46 times faster than Domino. In addition, with a response time of approximately 1.1 seconds, Microsoft Exchange scaled to 3,000 users, while Domino could support only 250 users.
The tests were run using two server configurations: a departmental server (Pentium 166 with 64 MB of RAM), representative of a common server that a small business or department might use, and a corporate server (dual Pentium 200 with 128 MB of RAM), representative of a server that might be found in an enterprise environment.
Tests were run using two client loads: a light user load and a medium user load. A light user load is defined as a user checking e-mail once every 10 minutes during an eight-hour day, sending eight messages per day to up to three recipients, and receiving 24 messages per day. The average message size for a light user load is 1.9Kb. A medium user load is defined as a user checking e-mail every 10 minutes during an eight-hour day, sending 22 messages per day to up to three recipients, and receiving 66 messages per day. The average message size for a medium user load is 8.1Kb.
All tests were run on the Windows NT® Server network operating system version 4.0. The tests measured the response time of a POP3 client requesting messages from the server. Clients were added until the response time reached five seconds, deemed an unsatisfactory delay.
To conduct the tests, Shiloh Associates used LoadSim, an open testing tool that simulates and measures POP3 client behavior against a server at a very detailed level. The full text of the Shiloh test report can be found on the Internet at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/compete/lotus/dominoperf.htm . In addition, Shiloh Associates has documented the problems the firm encountered installing and configuring POP3 support for Lotus Domino. For further details, please view http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/compete/lotus/dominopop3.htm .
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