World-Record Benchmarks Running on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition Usher in New Era of Low-Cost, High-Performance Enterprise Computing

NEW YORK, June 22, 1999 — Microsoft Corp., Compaq Computer Corp. and Unisys Corp. today announced at PC Expo that Microsoft® SQL Server TM 7.0 Enterprise Edition running on new eight-processor systems achieved world-record performance results on the Windows NT® Server 4.0 operating system Enterprise Edition for the SAP R/3 sales and distribution (SD) benchmark and the Transaction Processing Performance Council’s TPC-C benchmark.

At 4,512 SD users, the result of the SAP R/3 benchmark tops the previous best Microsoft SQL Server result by 88 percent and establishes a new record on the Windows NT Server platform. At 37,757.23 transactions per minute (tpmC), the result of the TPC-C benchmark – the computer industry’s standard method of measuring transaction processing performance – tops the previous best SQL Server result by 51 percent and sets a new record result for the Windows NT Server platform and SMP hardware. Furthermore, the cost per transaction for the TPC-C benchmark was $23.18 per tpmC, which represents the best price/performance result ever for any server with more than four processors.

“Taken together, today’s results show that SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition and eight-processor servers from Compaq and Unisys are ushering in a new era of performance, scalability and lower total cost of ownership for enterprise customers running the largest Internet,
e-commerce, ERP, customer management and data warehousing solutions,” said Tod Nielsen, vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “Based on these results, we are confident that customers with even the most demanding application requirements can benefit from the record-setting performance and industry-leading cost of ownership provided by SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition today and into the future.”

Microsoft and Compaq Top SAP R/3 Benchmarks

Today’s SAP R/3 result of 4,512 SD users was achieved using SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition and Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition running on a new Compaq ProLiant server, code-named “Lightning,” with eight 550MHz Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, four gigabytes of RAM, and Intel’s Profusion chip set. This benchmark, a key measure of real-world enterprise performance, simulates the maximum number of concurrent users that a system can handle while maintaining acceptable response times. The Microsoft and Compaq result represents a user workload that is larger than 95 percent of SAP’s current installed customer base and is both the best result ever published on the Windows NT platform and the best result ever published on a server with eight or fewer processors. The result also exhibits near linear scalability for SQL Server 7.0 between four-processor servers and eight-processor servers.

“The close relationship between Compaq and Microsoft continues to deliver the most reliable and powerful choices for our customers,” said Mary McDowell, vice president and general manager, Industry-Standard Server Division, Compaq. “This benchmark demonstrates the power of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 running on Compaq servers for driving today’s enterprise applications and environments.”

The nearest competitive benchmark from Oracle Corp. was achieved on an IBM RS/6000 running AIX, required 50 percent more processors and twice as much RAM, and cost over six times more than the Microsoft and Compaq system.

Microsoft and Unisys Top Industry-Standard Benchmark

Today’s TPC-C result of 37,757.23 tpmC was achieved with SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition and Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition running on a new Unisys Aquanta ES2085R server with eight 550MHz Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, four gigabytes of RAM, and Intel’s Profusion chip set. The TPC-C benchmark measures throughput in business transactions per minute for a simulated order entry and 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).

“Not very long ago, this level of performance was considered to be exclusively the territory of UNIX and RISC, something that Intel and Microsoft technology could not come close to touching,” said Don Johnson, vice president and general manager, Aquanta Enterprise Server Business, Unisys. “That the eight-way Aquanta ES2085R and SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition vaporize such an assumption is only part of the story. The rate at which these servers have been increasing in performance – substantial improvements now every three or four months – proves that today our products can effectively compete in any market segment.”

Newest Benchmarks Prove SQL Server Offers Lowest TCO

In addition to confirming the top performance of SQL Server, today’s results also confirm that SQL Server has the lowest TCO for enterprise relational database software. The Microsoft and Unisys combination demonstrated a cost per transaction of $23.18 per tpmC, among the best results ever achieved for the TPC-C benchmark, and represents a cost per transaction that is 43 percent less than the best cost per transaction ever published by Oracle. Furthermore, Oracle’s nearest performance result required twice the number of processors, 3.25 times more memory, relied on complex clustering technology that is not supported by most line-of-business applications, and had a system cost that was 85 percent more expensive.* Including this latest result, SQL Server 7.0 now holds the top 30 price/performance results ever published for the TPC-C benchmark.

SQL Server: A World-Class RDBMS

Created by a world-class development team, Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is the leading Windows NT Server-based database, bringing business advantage and improved decision-making to all levels of the organization through the power of data warehousing, industry solutions and interoperability with Microsoft Office.

Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 enables independent software vendors and customers to build and deploy scalable database solutions for business intelligence, business operations, commerce and mobile solutions. Microsoft SQL Server is a member of the Microsoft BackOffice® family, a set of server software that makes it easy to build, manage and deploy powerful business solutions.

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.

*Unisys Aquanta ES2085R at 37,757.23 tpmC and $23.18 per tpmC using SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition with availability date of Sept. 30, 1999. Compaq ProLiant 6500-PDC/O100 at 40,077.23 tpmC and $40.40 per tpmC using Oracle 8.0.5.1 Enterprise Server with availability date of May 6, 1999. All TPC results are valid as of June 22, 1999.

Microsoft, Windows NT and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

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