Pick's D3 Database Management System Achieves Phenomenal Results On IBM's 262 MHz RS/6000 S70; Performance Test Demonstrates D3's Ease of Migration and Scalability

Business Wire, August 11, 1998

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1998--Pick Systems(R) Inc., a leading developer of multi-user, multi-value database management system (DBMS) software, today announced that its D3(R) database management system achieved a significant performance boost on IBM's(R) 64-bit 262 MHz RS/6000(R) S70 and AIX(R) version 4.3.

During testing and performance analysis conducted at IBM's Solution Partnership Center (SPC) in San Mateo, Calif., D3 revealed more than triple the performance when compared to test results performed using IBM's 125 MHz RS/6000 S70 system. In addition, D3 achieved performance increases up to 18 times the number of database transactions per second (TPS) when compared to testing results conducted on IBM's 32-bit 112 MHz RS/6000 J40 in October 1997.

Pick, one of the first companies to test its application on the new S70 system, experienced no problems during performance analysis on the new system. The company's D3 AIX v7.1 loaded seamlessly without any code modifications. Performance analysis and sizing were performed, scaling from 300 to 5,000 users.

To illustrate the performance gains, Pick ran comparative testing between the new 262 MHz S70 and the existing 125 MHz S70 systems. The new 262 MHz S70 offers twice the processing power resulting in a new level of performance. With 500 users on the higher performance S70, D3 achieved more than 62,000 TPS -- an increase of over 45,000 TPS as compared to the 125 MHz S70 and over 59,000 TPS higher as compared to the 112 MHz J40. See Table 1 for a complete summary of the performance test.

"Pick has proven once again that our D3 database management system scales extremely well on IBM's systems," said John Bramley, vice president of engineering for Pick Systems. "The S70 offers an unprecedented combination of performance and scalability. This enables our VARs to easily expand applications to meet their changing business needs with a minimal amount of investment and effort."

"IBM RS/6000 and Pick Systems continue to work together to deliver powerful enterprise computing solutions for our joint customers," said Brian Sweeney, vice president RS/6000 Enterprise Servers. "The RS/6000 S70 Enterprise Server provides the reliability, scalability and investment protection that customers look for when running leading software applications -- like Pick's DBMS -- in mission critical environments."

The S70 provides an ideal single-machine environment for users which require both superior performance and room for growth.

"Pick continues to remain committed to supporting current and future IBM technologies," said Ted Ellison, vice president of marketing for Pick Systems. "IBM offers a solid platform for our VARs to deliver their applications. IBM's Solution Partnership Center is a great resource for us because it allows us to test our products on the latest IBM platforms quickly and easily. Pick will continue to utilize the benefits that the SPC facility has to offer in the future."

Pick's D3 database management system is based on a multi-value data model. D3 is an open systems solution, providing ODBC, SQL and OSFI standard capabilities. This sophisticated development environment is the basis for client/server applications, data warehouses and web-enabled databases. D3 and D3-based applications run on PCs, mid-range and massively-parallel computing systems, Windows NT and Windows 95, and native IBM-based installations. -0-

TABLE 1.  Summary of Performance Testing
      Ports           TPS --            TPS --              TPS --
                    262 MHz S70       125 MHz S70        112 MHz J40
       300            71,820            51,520                4,757
       400            81,373            27,080                3,987
       500            62,854            17,465                3,497
     1,000            45,064             4,785                2,422
     3,000            23,231               --                    --
     5,000            20,571               --                    --

     Table 1 illustrates the results of comparative performance
analysis using D3 on an RS/6000 S70 with twelve 262 MHz processors; an
RS/6000 S70 with twelve 125 MHz processors; and an RS/6000 J40 with
eight 112 MHz processors. All numbers were obtained running the CUBS
benchmark.

-0-

Pick Systems Inc., based in Irvine, Calif., introduced its first multi-user, multi-value database management system in 1973. The company's third-generation DBMS, D3, runs on a spectrum of hardware, including PC, midrange, and massively-parallel computing systems, and is available for most versions of UNIX(R), Windows NT(R), and Windows(R) 95 operating environments. The company markets its products worldwide through a network of more than 800 value-added resellers who provide more than 4,000 applications. Pick Systems has international sales offices in the United Kingdom, France, South Africa and Singapore and employs approximately 125 people worldwide. For more information on Pick Systems, visit the company's Web site at www.picksys.com.