New Chip Debuts in IBM RS/6000 Server

S70 Takes Crown as Most Powerful Web Server

SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1998--IBM today introduced the first server, the RS/6000 Enterprise Server Model S70, powered by a new second-generation 64-bit microprocessor that set a record for speed on the Web.

In addition, IBM announced significant price cuts on the previous generation S70 systems that make them even more economical. They include reductions of up to 30(a) percent on the four-way entry S70 model, dropping the U.S. list price from $125,000 to $85,000. IBM also lowered memory prices by up to 37(a) percent.

The new RS64-II chip significantly improves the S70's performance for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) applications. ERP is an important class of software applications that allows companies to improve their productivity by linking nearly every aspect of their business operations.

In a 12-way configuration, the new S70 is the world's fastest web server, surpassing the performance of Sun, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics and NCR. The S70 delivered record-breaking SPECweb96 performance of 9,081 http operations per second and is the first system ever to break the 9,000 barrier. A test model of the S70 set the old record of 8,301 http op/s in July, becoming the first system to break the 8,000 barrier.

The S70 also becomes the most powerful 12-way symmetrical multiprocessor system based on the Transaction Processing Performance Council TPC-C(b) benchmark, topping the 24-way Sun Ultra Enterprise 6000. The S70 recorded a TPC-C benchmark of 34,139.63 tpmC(b) at 88.09$/tpmC(b) -- the fastest ever non-clustered Oracle result(1).

"The dramatic performance improvements combined with its proven reliability make the S70 and our AIX operating system the right choice for mission-critical applications," said Michael J. Borman, general manager, IBM RS/6000. "With this upgrade, RS/6000 has delivered a nearly six-fold(2) performance boost in its enterprise server line since January of 1997."

S70 Power Applied to BMW's New 3 Series

"S70 has met the rigorous demands of our production planning and manufacturing control applications -- it has delivered the CPU capacity and the I/O bandwidth and availability we needed to ensure the seamless production of our new BMW 3 series," said Peter Obernhuber, IT Director BMW Regensburg, Germany. "IBM has clearly demonstrated how this server's upgrade path will fit our growing needs while protecting our existing hardware investments. Additionally, with the flexible, scalable functionality of the S70, we can change software configurations of our applications at a moment's notice."

Leading software developers, including Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft and QAD recognize the value of recent performance increases on the S70.

"This represents more than a seven-fold improvement in RS/6000 performance with Baan in the past 18 months," Jan van Schothorst, Manager of Baan Porting and Benchmark Center. "This new processor places IBM among the leading platforms for Baan performance."

The new 262 MHz microprocessor is the follow-on to the RS64 processor introduced on the S70 in October of last year. In addition to the dramatic improvement in ERP performance, it delivers on IBM's commitment to continued enhancement of its 64-bit technology and provides customers with a powerful solution for business intelligence and e-business applications. The server will be available later this month.

About IBM RS/6000

RS/6000 products range in size and capability from workstations, workgroup and enterprise servers to the "supercomputer" RS/6000 SP. RS/6000's AIX operating system was recently voted best operating system in a survey of resellers(3), is the only operating system in a 64-bit environment to receive the high E3/F-C2 security rating by the Bundesamt fuer Sicherheit Informationstechnik -- a German government certification authority, and the only operating system with Virtual Private Network certification from the International Computer Security Association.

Additional information about IBM can be found on the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com. RS/6000 product information can be found at http://www.rs6000.ibm.com. SPEC performance information can be found at http://www.specbench.org. Information on TPC is available at http://www.tpc.org.

IBM, AIX, RS/6000 and SP are registered trademarks or trademarks of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and/or other countries licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. Other company, product and service names, which may be denoted by a note b (b) may be trademarks or service marks of others.

(a) Based on U.S. list price. (1) Availability date: Jan. 21, 1999. Results as of Aug. 11, 1998. (2) Based on IBM's Relative Online Transaction Processing (ROLTP) estimate of commercial processing performance derived from an IBM analytical model. (3) Study conducted in May 1998 by VF Information Services of Langhorne, Pa. for VARBusiness magazine.