Sun Solaris Produces Best TPC-C Price/Performance Results for Oracle With Intel-Based UNIX Platform

Business Wire, March 5, 1997

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 1997--Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW), today announced that its Solaris(TM) operating environment produced the best TPC-C price/performance results to date running an Oracle database on a UNIX(R)-based Intel server.

Sun's Solaris software set a new price/performance record, using Oracle Universal Server release 7.3.3 database running on an IBM PC Server 704. TPC-C -- the Transaction Processing Council C (TPC-C) benchmark -- is one of the most important tests for transaction processing: a category that includes everything from sales order desks to hotel reservations.

"This result proves once again that the Oracle Universal Server offers customers the best scalability and the fastest performance," said Richard French, Vice President, Oracle Corporation. "The Oracle Universal Server and the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) are a superb combination for deploying robust, scalable solutions."

"The TPC-C scores demonstrate the extraordinary value of Solaris at the departmental workgroup level, where high-throughput transaction processing and scalability are critical to success," said Janpieter Scheerder, president of SunSoft, Inc.

"Clearly, there is no better Intel platform edition for an Oracle database than Solaris."

The benchmark is the latest in a series of favorable results for Solaris. On another test, Solaris beat Microsoft Windows NT running the Lotus NotesBench software. Here Solaris ran on a two- processor Sun Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) 2 workgroup server, while Microsoft Windows NT ran on a four-processor Compaq Proliant. The Solaris operating environment produced the best overall performance and highest capacity numbers of any platform published to date. Recently, Sun announced record setting performance results for Lotus Domino Server on the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition).

In this recent benchmark, the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) running the Oracle Universal Server release 7.3.3 database achieved an $88.00/tpmC rating -- the best score ever for an Intel-based, UNIX platform running Oracle database. This value takes into account the price of an entire hardware and software installation, and the performance on a per-minute basis.

The performance score of Solaris, measuring transactions per minute, was equally impressive: 6679.50tpmC throughput. Test results and executive summaries can be retrieved from the TPC web site: http://www.tpc.org/execsum_TPCC.html (see IBM subhead).

A respected measure of transaction processing

Created in 1992, the TPC-C benchmark is one of the most respected measures of how computer hardware and software perform in a demanding commercial environment, in which operators on a terminal send and retrieve information from a database. These transactions include entering and delivering orders, checking their status, recording payments, and monitoring the level of stock at warehouses. The benchmark was developed by the Transaction Processing Performance Council, a non-profit corporation. More than 20 companies have published TPC-C results.

Sun offers an integrated family of server software for Intel Pentium platforms, including Internet application and PC administration, with solutions scaling from software for professional and point-of-sales applications on up to enterprise servers that take advantage of a multiprocessing environment. SunSoft also provides a broad range of development tools, including Sun(TM) Visual WorkShop(TM) for C , ProWorks(TM) FORTRAN, ProWorks(TM)/TeamWare Code management tools, and ProWorks(TM)/iMPact(TM) Multithreaded development tools.

About Sun Microsystems

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com . -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, SunSoft, The Network is the Computer, Sun Visual WorkShop, ProWorks, ProWorks/iMPact, Solaris, and Ultra Enterprise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.

CONTACT: SunSoft

Judy Zimbelman, 415/786-4708