ADVANCE/Intergraph Shatters TPC-C Benchmark Price/Performance Records With Pentium Pro Processor/Windows NT-Based InterServe; Web Server Front-End For Client/Server Database Access

Business Wire, May 28, 1996

(ADVANCE) HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1996-- Intergraph Computer Systems today announced record-breaking price/performance results for the industry-standard Transaction Processing Performance Council Benchmark C (TPC-C) using its Windows NT Server-based InterServe Web server powered by Intel Pentium Pro processors. By producing unprecedented results with a realistic configuration that even small and mid-range sized businesses can afford, Intergraph provides departmental power at workgroup server pricing, offering customers a new way to access databases.

In the first published results of a TPC-C benchmark using the Intel Pentium Pro processor, Intergraph achieved an unparalleled price/performance rating of $123.15/tpmC (transactions per minute) at a rate of 1,675.53 tpmC. The previous best price/performance figure was $141/tpmC at a rate of 3107. Intergraph achieved this result using its 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor-based InterServe MP-610 as a database server and a single 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor-based InterServe Web-300 as the front-end server.

"Before today, a vendor would have been ecstatic to shave just five dollars off the cost per tpmC," said Wade Patterson, president of Intergraph Computer Systems. "With our InterServe MP and Web servers, Intergraph has dramatically lowered the cost, and is totally rewriting the rulebook on what constitutes leading price/performance for servers."

Intergraph's results are especially important because they validate the use of a Web server as a gateway to a database server. Many organizations are considering this type of environment as they use databases to create more dynamic Web pages or begin doing business on the Web. With Intergraph's high-performance solution, companies can affordably design and implement intranets, Web-based services, and other transaction-intensive applications.

The results also represent a new performance standard for a single-processor (uniprocessor) database server handling simulated real-world online transaction processing (OLTP) environments. Previously, the best uniprocessor server performance result was 1,496.1 tpmC at $320/tpmC -- more than two and a half times more expensive for less performance.

"Intergraph's record-breaking TPC-C results demonstrates the Pentium Pro processor's price/performance benefits for both database and web server applications," said John McNulty, director of Enterprise Server Program at Intel Corporation. "This innovative benchmark is the first TPC-C result published for a Pentium Pro processor-based system and shatters the previous record for price/performance held by a RISC-based system. These results establish the Pentium Pro processor as the preferred architecture for client/server database systems."

Rich Tong, general manager in the desktop and business systems division at Microsoft(R) Corporation, said, "Intergraph's TPC-C results prove that Microsoft's Internet strategy is right on target. Our Microsoft BackOffice(TM) integration with Windows NT Server helped Intergraph achieve this level of performance and affordability by providing a highly optimized path for accessing Microsoft SQL Server(TM) via Internet Information Server."

New Paradigm for Client/Server Database Access ----------------------------------------------

Intergraph, which combined its InterServe servers with Intel's Pentium Pro microprocessor and the Microsoft BackOffice products (including Microsoft Internet Information Server(IIS), Microsoft SQL Server database, and Windows NT Server), is the first server vendor to generate TPC-C results entirely based on Windows NT Server.

The tight integration of Windows NT Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft IIS allows the use of fewer hardware resources, especially on the Web server front-end. Other vendors have used Windows NT Server on the database server but required UNIX on multiple front-end systems -- a difficult environment to implement and manage. Additionally, these configurations often are too expensive for many customers.

Pricing -------

Pricing for InterServe Web Servers starts at $8,900 (U.S. list). For detailed pricing or further information, contact 800-763-0242.

Intergraph Background Information ---------------------------------

Intergraph Computer Systems develops, manufactures, sells, and supports computer systems for the creative and technical desktop -- the combination of compatible applications and personal productivity tools in a single desktop computer. Hardware products include Pentium Pro Processor/Windows NT-based graphics workstations and servers. A member of the Fortune 1,000, Intergraph Corporation is the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems and the world's largest independent developer of Windows NT-based applications.

Note to Editors: If you wish to provide a telephone number for reader inquiries, please use 800-763-0242. Intergraph's World Wide Web URL is http://www.intergraph.com.

Intergraph(R) is a registered trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Microsoft, Windows NT, and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.