New Compaq AlphaServer DS10 is World's Fastest Single Processor RISC System; 64-Bit AlphaServer Boasts Entry-Level Price of Just $3,500

Business Wire, May 10, 1999

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999--

Offers 2X Performance at Lower Cost Than Sun, IBM and HP

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today introduced the world's fastest single processor RISC machine, a breakthrough entry-level AlphaServer that boasts a starting price of just $3,500.

Supporting an operating system choice of Tru64 UNIX, Linux, OpenVMS or Windows NT, the AlphaServer DS10 is an ideal platform for Compaq NonStop(R) eBusiness solutions through volume resellers. This announcement is the fifth in a series of Alpha system introductions by Compaq since last October. Also announced are significant enhancements to Compaq's Linux program, complementing Tru64 UNIX in the company's enterprise UNIX initiative.

"The Compaq AlphaServer DS10 hits a new price point for 64-bit computing solutions and creates a new product category for the industry -- we plan to take full advantage of it," said John Rose, Senior Vice President and Group General Manager, Compaq's Enterprise Computing Group. "Compaq will continue to provide new and better Alpha technology at reduced prices to drive volume, and we're aggressively targeting the AlphaServer DS10 at rapidly growing cost-conscious markets such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), web servers, and e-Commerce."

Designed With Features That Internet Businesses Demand

The Compaq AlphaServer DS10 is ideally suited for small to large commercial enterprises requiring a low-cost application server platform and for Internet, ISP, and telecommunications business solution needs. It is also the first AlphaServer designed specifically with both Tru64 UNIX and Linux in mind for these markets. With the AlphaServer DS10, enterprise customers can use fewer racks to deploy their networking or data center solutions, which increases performance and significantly lowers operating costs. Performing two to three times faster than comparable RISC systems, ISPs can afford to dedicate these low-cost, space-efficient servers to individual customers and applications. This approach delivers more computing cycles per square foot, which means greater revenue generated from the same space.

"The packaging of the AlphaServer DS10 meets the very demanding requirements of an ISP such as ourselves," said Jan Isley, Senior Engineer in the Network Services Department at MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. "The AlphaServer DS10 is a neatly packaged, powerful server that we can stack in our racks in the most cost-effective server density. The performance is incredible and the price is right."

The AlphaServer DS10 is also a significant development for the high-performance technical computing (HPTC) market, ISV/software development, and university markets because it incorporates high-performance features without the added costs associated with unnecessary components. The AlphaServer DS10 is very expandable, with 4 PCI slots and up to 29 GB of internal disk storage. The low-profile design allows for use of a common package as a desktop server or in a rack configuration, clustered with other systems in the same rack. This makes an ideal Linux Beowulf Cluster or TruCluster in the rack mounted version. Coupled with Compaq's previously announced Fortran and C compilers and math library, the new C and extended math library provide systems with maximum performance in minimal floor space, which is a breakthrough for Linux and Tru64 UNIX.

Lycos Inc., a leading Web media company and owner of the Lycos Network, has been investigating smaller distributed architectures for some time. According to Gray Watson, Principal Software Engineer and the chief architect of Lycos' Search back end systems, the AlphaServer DS10 falls into this category. "The Alpha 21264-based DS10 is the fastest single processor system we've ever experienced. Our code compiles very fast and the overall performance is very impressive. We've been investigating Linux on other boxes and the price of the AlphaServer DS10 puts it right into this category. However, with the addition of Tru64 UNIX support, our high performance multithreaded programs perform significantly better."

Universal Platform with Price/Performance Breakthrough

The Compaq AlphaServer DS10 continues the AlphaServer tradition of exceptional engineering, high standards of testing, quality assurance, and best-in-class solutions. While other 64-bit solutions are in their first generation, Compaq AlphaServer systems have been boosting productivity in businesses around the world for more than six years. Powered by the Alpha 21264 CPU (EV6), the new server offers unprecedented 64-bit performance.

The Compaq AlphaServer DS10 in rack-ready 3U/desktop design features 100 percent application compatibility and up to 2x-application performance boost with no recompiles over previous generation servers. It offers a single 466MHz Alpha 21264 processor with 2MB of L2 cache, up to 2 GB of ECC memory, and advanced 128-bit wide memory data paths providing 1.3 GB/sec memory bandwidth.

As a result, the Compaq AlphaServer DS10 delivers the greatest integer compute power for a single processor system (24.6 SPECint95) -- more than 1.5 times faster than the Sun Ultra 10 (15.2 SPECint95), IBM 43P (12.9 SPECint95) and HP 380 (12.3 SPECint95). The AlphaServer DS10 also boasts the fastest single-CPU SPECfp95 result ever (47.9 SPECfp95), more than twice as fast as the Sun Ultra 10 (19.9 SPECfp95) and higher than any HP or IBM single processor server.