Sun Sets Scalability Metric for Oracle Applications with Ultra Enterprise 6000 Server; Oracle Applications Gain Increased Scalability with Sun Servers

Business Wire, May 13, 1997

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1997--Continuing to extend its leadership position with the Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) servers, Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced benchmark results for Oracle Applications running on Sun's Ultra Enterprise 6000 server with the Solaris(TM) operating environment. This benchmark tested the scalability of manufacturing and financial management functions under conditions typical of a large corporate environment.

The Ultra Enterprise 6000 system, processing online operations representing a real-world mix of business functions, performed the Oracle benchmark suite, which consisted of 57 critical transactions across financial and manufacturing areas, such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, order entry and general ledger. The system posted results of 190 business processes per minute with 1100 active, concurrent users on an 8-processor system. When configured with 24 processors, the Ultra Enterprise 6000 server scaled to support 3000 active, concurrent users and 500 business processes per minute -- demonstrating unmatched scalability for Oracle Applications.

"These results prove that Sun customers can increase the performance of Oracle Applications by 'simply scaling up' or incrementally adding processors, memory, and disk capacity to Sun's SMP (symmetrical multiprocessing) servers," said Doug Kaewert, Director of Global Accounts, Sun Microsystems Computer Company.

This benchmark included all the steps necessary for daily processing in a typical high-volume Oracle Applications environment. Business processes from General Ledger (Journal Entry, Journal Inquiry, Account Inquiry), Accounts Payable (View Payment Information, Customer Add, Manual Payment Application), Accounts Receivable (View Invoice, Standard Invoice with multiple distribution lines, Insert Customer, View Customer Information), and Order Entry (Enter Sales Order, Update Customer Information) were run against an actual customer database.

"Sun's Ultra Enterprise servers provide Oracle customers with high-performance, scalable solutions to improve business operations," said Richard French, Vice President Enterprise Platforms Division, Oracle Corporation. "This benchmark illustrates our commitment to raise the bar for applications performance in the enterprise and meet demands for implementation in network computing environments."

The Ultra Enterprise 6000 system, a high-performance, highly-reliable server designed for department and data center computing environments, scales from one to 30 processors. Sun's Ultra Enterprise line of servers represents the fastest growing platform for Oracle Applications. Oracle Applications are optimized, tested and tuned on the Sun platform for ultimate performance.

Java(TM) Based Applications

Sun and Oracle are also collaborating to bring Java(TM) functionality to all of Oracle's products, including its business applications and RDBMS, Oracle 7.3. Oracle's WebForms will enable businesses to reap the benefits of deploying Oracle Applications on new low administration cost devices such as NC's or the JavaStation(TM) and preserve their investment in existing hardware by allowing applications to be run from any Java-enabled web browser on any platform.

About Sun Microsystems. Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The ComputerTM," 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 $8 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, Solaris, Ultra Enterprise, JavaStation, The Network Is The Computer, and Java are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape Navigator or Sun's HotJava. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL prompt.

CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Company

Lisa Ganier, 415/786-8088

Lisa.Ganier@corp.sun.com

or

Burson-Marsteller for Sun

Chris McManus (415) 463-4005

chris_mcmanus@yr.com