IBM Delivers Powerful New Servers Based on Latest Intel Xeon Processors

ARMONK, N.Y. - 05 Nov 2002: IBM today announced powerful new eServer™ xSeries™ servers based on the latest Intel® Xeon™ processors MP. The company demonstrated the scalability of the new IBM x440™ models by achieving industry-leading performance for four-way 32-bit Intel-based servers and price/performance for eight-way systems on the TPC-C benchmark.

Today's announcement comes as IBM continues its strong momentum in Intel processor-based servers. IBM eServer xSeries server revenue grew 22 percent year to year, comparing the third quarter of 2002 with the third quarter of 2001.

"We continue to refresh the eServer xSeries line with the latest innovations from IBM and the latest processors from Intel," said Deepak Advani, vice president, IBM eServer xSeries. "While Dell and HP have yet to deliver an eight-way system based on the Xeon processor MP, IBM continues to pioneer the 32-bit Intel server space with new four-way, eight-way and, later this quarter, 16-way systems that deliver outstanding performance and real business value."

"The new Intel Xeon processor MP delivers tremendous performance, scalability and reliability for mid-tier and back-end servers," said Mike Fister, vice president and general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group. "IBM's servers based on the Intel Xeon processor MP offer customers a compelling combination of features and innovative technologies to handle demanding enterprise deployments."

Performance Leadership
The new eight-way x440 models featuring the Intel Xeon processor MP 2.0GHz achieved 20 percent higher scores over the previous models on the TPC-C and two-tier SAP® Standard Application Sales and Distribution (SD) benchmarks -- while the base models start at the same price as the systems they replace [2].

On the Transaction Processing Performance Council's TPC-C benchmark, the eight-way x440 achieved performance of 111,024.39 transactions per minute (tpmC) and price/performance of $6.76/tpmC. This result surpasses Dell's best eight-way performance score and sets a new price/performance record for an eight-way server [3].

In a four-way configuration, the x440 achieved performance of 74,206.27 tpmC and price/performance of $5.75/tpmC, setting a new TPC-C performance record for a four-way IA-32 server [4].

On the two-tier SAP Standard Application Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark, the x440 achieved 690 SAP SD benchmark users with 1.95 seconds average dialog response time on a configuration of eight Intel Xeon processors MP 2.0GHz, IBM DB2® Version 7.2, and SuSE Linux 8.0 (Linux kernel 2.4.18) [5]. The IBM server achieved 15 percent more SD users than the eight-way Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V880's 600 SD users [6].

Introduced earlier this year, the x440 is an exceptionally powerful Intel processor-based server designed to meet the performance, reliability and scalability requirements of corporate data center customers. Powered by ground-breaking IBM Enterprise X-Architecture™ technology, the server offers a "building block" approach that allows customers to pay for computing power incrementally as they need it, with planned support for 16 processors.

The x360 is also designed with Enterprise X-Architecture technology and packs four processors into a slender 3U system, providing tremendous price/performance for space-constrained data centers. The x255 is a flexible, "all-in-one" four-way system that brings outstanding performance to distributed computing environments.

All IBM eServer xSeries servers support both Linux and Microsoft Windows.

Worldwide availability is planned for November 15, 2002, for the new four- and eight-processor x440 models; November 18, 2002, for the new x255 models; and December 3, 2002, for the new x360 models.

About IBM
IBM offers a full line of servers that embrace industry standards. Powered by breakthroughs such as microprocessors with copper wiring and Silicon-on-Insulator technology, IBM servers have captured industry-leading benchmarks that measure transactions, Web serving capabilities and performance in software applications. The IBM eServer line is an integral part of customized, flexible and scalable Internet solutions for companies of all sizes. Linux is capable of running on the entire eServer line. More information on IBM eServer is available at http://www.ibm.com/eserver
The latest TPC-C results are available at http://www.tpc.org
The latest SAP results are available at http://www.sap.com/benchmark

[1] Support for 16 processors planned for fourth quarter 2002.

[2] The claim of 20 percent improvement in performance is based on a comparison of the current TPC-C and two-tier SAP Standard Application Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark results with the following previously published results: IBM x440 (8-way 1.6GHz Xeon MP, 1MB L3 cache): 92,398.49 tpmC, $7.70/tpmC, available January 21, 2003. IBM x440: (8-way 1.6GHz Xeon MP, 1MB L3 cache, SuSE Linux 8.0, DB2 UDB 7.2, SAP R/3 Release 4.6C): 575 SAP SD benchmark users with measured throughput of 174,000 dialog steps per hour (or 58,000 fully processed order line items per hour), 1.89 seconds average dialog response time. Benchmark results are highly dependent upon workload, specific application requirements, and systems design and implementation. Relative system performance will vary as a result of these and other factors. U.S. list price current as of November 5, 2002. Price does not include tax or shipping and is subject to change without notice. Reseller prices may vary.

[3] The x440 server tested used eight Intel Xeon processors MP 2.0GHz and ran Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 and Microsoft Windows .NET Datacenter Server 2003. Availability: March 31, 2003, for the priced configuration. Dell PowerEdge 8450 (8-way 900MHz/2MB Pentium III Xeon): 69,901.74 tpmC, $8.46/tpmC, available November 15, 2001.

[4] The x440 server tested used four Intel Xeon processors MP 2.0GHz, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and Microsoft Windows .NET Enterprise Server 2003. Availability: March 31, 2003, for the priced configuration. HP ProLiant DL580 G2: 61,564.50 tpmC, $6.13/tpmC, available December 31, 2002.

[5] The hardware configuration for the IBM x440's 690 SAP SD benchmark user run consisted of one central server, an x440 server with eight 2.0GHz Intel Xeon processor MP with 2MB L3 cache, 8GB of main memory, and 200GB of total disk space running SuSE Linux 8.0 (Linux kernel 2.4.18), IBM DB2 Version 7.2 and the SAP SD benchmark, running SAP R/3® Release 4.6C. The measured throughput was 208,000 dialog steps per hour (or 69,330 fully processed order line items per hour), with an average CPU utilization of 97 percent for the central server. This benchmark fully complies with the SAP Benchmark Council regulations and has been audited and certified by SAP AG. Details can be obtained from IBM and SAP. The benchmark was performed at Research Triangle Park, N.C., USA, by IBM engineers.

[6] Sun-Fire V880: 8-way SMP UltraSPARC III, 900 MHz, 8MB L2 cache, Solaris 8, DB2 UDB 7.2, SAP R/3 Release 4.6C; the measured throughput was 181,000 dialog steps per hour (or 60,330 fully processed order line items per hour), 1.96 seconds average dialog response time.

IBM, DB2, eServer, X-Architecture, xSeries, x255, x360 and x440 are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

TPC, TPC-C, tpmC and $/tpmC are trademarks of Transaction Processing Performance Council.

SAP, R/3 and other SAP product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.

All other trademarks, registered trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.