Hitachi PC VisionBase 8880R Server Sets Industry Record for NT Performance

Business Wire, Nov 16, 1998

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 1998--

AIM finds 8-way Pentium II Xeon-based server best ever for

performance in NT domain server benchmark testing

Demonstrating the high performance and reliability of its enterprise-class server systems, Hitachi PC Corporation, a leading provider of Mobilized Computing solutions to the corporate marketplace, today announced that the VisionBase 8880R 8-way Pentium II Xeon-based enterprise server has achieved the highest overall performance rating in Windows NT Domain server benchmarks from AIM Technology.

In tests administered by AIM Technology, the independent benchmarking group for UNIX and Windows NT computer systems, the VisionBase 8880R set a new industry standard in performance levels, becoming the first server to deliver a peak performance rating of over 10,000 Domain Server jobs per minute. The tests represent outstanding performance in a typical enterprise domain server environment, performing tasks such as file transfers, network routing and packet forwarding, e-mail, shared applications like spreadsheets and word processors, and network maintenance.

"We are proud to be able to announce these industry leading results in the first benchmark testing of our 8-way, Xeon-based server," said Michael Kreiger, Vice President of Servers, Hitachi PC Corporation. "This outcome demonstrates Hitachi's ability to provide enterprise-class server solutions that deliver outstanding performance, scalability and manageability on the current Windows NT platform, and provides performance-based justification for companies to purchase this future-ready product now. We are pleased to be able to provide our corporate customers with accurate and comparable third party performance assessments, initially through this conclusive, industry-standard AIM certification."

"Our benchmark tests are designed to provide real-life performance benchmarks for systems running UNIX or Microsoft Windows NT, simulating real-use workloads. In the Windows NT testing conducted, the Hitachi VisionBase 8880R surpassed all previous systems tested in both the peak and sustained measures proving that it is a high performance, reliable unit," said Tammy Bauer, president of AIM Technology. "This will be valuable information for customers who are considering a server purchase at this time."

The VisionBase 8880R configuration tested featured eight 400 MHz Pentium II Xeon processors with 1MB Level 2 cache, 2 GB of memory, five Ultra-Wide 9GB disks, 17 Ultra-Wide 4.5GB disks and 4 Mylex RAID controllers. AIM Technology's Server Benchmark for Windows NT is designed to provide customers with a detailed assessment of the overall systems performance characteristics, total capacity and throughput of the system under test. AIM benchmark certifications are conducted and certified by AIM personnel.

Announced in October with U.S. deliveries scheduled for January, the VisionBase 8880R is powered by up to eight 400MHz or 450MHz Pentium II Xeon processors and offers exclusive Hitachi System Management (HSM) software on units loaded with Windows NT, to ensure easy manageability, both locally and remotely. It also features high-performance I/O including Ultra SCSI, and fiber channel and LAN peripherals tuned for exceptional throughput.

The VisionBase 8880R is tightly integrated with Windows NT, and is qualified for compatibility with UNIX and NetWare environments. The CPU, memory, disk drives, I/O and network subsystems options are all fully upgradeable. Featuring redundancy in cooling, power supply and RAID disk storage, the VisionBase 8880R delivers an exceptional level of resiliency. Configure-to-order flexibility is available for corporate customers, and the VisionBase 8880R is fully backed by Hitachi's extensive service and support capabilities.

About Hitachi PC

Hitachi PC Corp. (USA) is a leading developer of Mobilized Computing tools for businesses that provide global reach and universal access to information and resources any time, any place. Hitachi PC designs, manufactures and markets personal computers, servers and other products and services that connect workers anywhere in the world to mission-critical information on private and public networks. Backed by Hitachi quality, Hitachi PC is committed to customer satisfaction and provides outstanding, 24-by-7 customer support and industry leading product warranties. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, Hitachi PC Corp. is a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT, http://www.hitachi.co.jp) and Hitachi America, Ltd. (http://www.hitachi.com). For more information on Hitachi PC, please visit http://www.hitachipc.com.

Editors Note: To receive photos and copies of Hitachi PC press release electronically please visit the Hitachi Web site. Selected photos are located in the www.hitachipc.com/channel/toolkit/index.html. The Hitachi PC Web site offers additional information about Hitachi PC, products and business partners.

Hitachi and the Hitachi logo are trademarks of Hitachi, Ltd. VisionBase is a trademark of Hitachi PC Corp. (USA), which may be registered in some jurisdictions. Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Intel, Xeon, Pentium II are trademarks of Intel Corporation. All other names and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.