NEC Solutions' 32-Way, Intel-R- Itanium-R- 2 Server Sets New Performance Level in Two Tier SAP-R- Standard Application Sales and Distribution -SD- Benchmark

Business Wire, March 26, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Symposium/ITxpo 2003

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2003

Continuing its initiative to dominate the price/performance equation for enterprise computing, NEC Solutions (America), Inc., today announced that its 32-way, Itanium 2-based Express5800/1032 has claimed one of the top spots among its peers when benchmarked on the 2-tier SAP(R) Standard Application Sales and Distribution Benchmark. The server was tested using Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit). This announcement comes on the heels of an astonishingly fast TPC-C benchmark in February 2003 (733,107 tpmC, $12.98/tpmC) posted by the 1000 Series server from NEC Solutions.

The SAP SD 4.6 C application benchmark was performed on a NEC Express5800/1320Xc 32-way server with 64GB of memory. The benchmark achieved 2,750 SD benchmark users with an average dialog response time of 1.85 seconds. The achieved throughput was 278,300 fully business processed order line items per hour and 835,000 dialog steps per hour. This benchmark is fully compliant with SAP Benchmark Council's issued benchmark regulation and has been audited by SAP. A complete description of the benchmark and more information is available at www.sap.com/benchmark.> "Using industry standard equipment to achieve such dominant performance is truly a statement of engineering innovation and a result of collaborative efforts with Intel and Microsoft to focus on dramatically reducing the cost of high performance processing for enterprise customers," said Mike Mitsch, senior director, NEC Server Solutions. "Senior IT management must now consider a new possibility when planning their highest-end systems. These scores cannot be swept under the rug by believers in high-priced, proprietary systems. The value proposition is too great and the possibilities far too vast to ignore."

The NEC Express5800/1000

High-speed processing on the entire 1000 Series of servers is realized with a combination of Intel's new Itanium 2 CPU and NEC's mainframe and supercomputer technology -- such as crossbar switch technology and high-speed memory access technology. In addition to the fact that it can be configured with up to 32 CPUs, the new series employs PCI-X for I/O bus to connect peripheral and network devices. It can also be configured with up to 112 I/O slots and 512GB of memory, demonstrating the high scalability ideal for large-scale configurations.

The Express5800/1000 series may be partitioned at the hardware level, enabling each subsystem to operate as an independent computer system. It is possible to divide the 32-CPU system into up to eight subsystems, each of which has four CPUs, and let them each operate separately. In this way it's possible to allocate processor capacity according to workload status, resulting in flexible system operation and guaranteed security.

The NEC Express5800/1000 Series is available for order immediately throughout North America. Further information and product specifications for the NEC Express5800/1000 series of servers is available at www.nec64.com or by calling NEC Solutions America at 866-632-3226.

About NEC Solutions (America), Inc.

NEC Solutions (America), Inc. is a leading provider of business solutions and services for the high-end commercial and professional markets in North America. As an affiliate of NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l), NEC Solutions America supplies customized technology solutions, including presentation systems, enterprise computing products, biometric and information security solutions, advanced eBusiness integration systems, and professional IT/IS services. Information about NEC Solutions America can be found at www.necsolutions-am.com.

Editor's Note: Information and specifications are subject to change without notice. NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. SAP and other SAP product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. (C)2003 NEC Solutions (America), Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Server availability, June 30, 2003. Press release available at http://servers.necsam.com/press_detail.cfm?press_id=30. TPC-C is one of the Transaction Processing Performance Council's standard benchmarks for measuring computer system performance. Performance is evaluated based on a model of enterprise transaction processing. Benchmark results are expressed in terms of how many transactions are performed per minute (tpmC). NEC Express5800/1320Xc, 433,107.77 tpmC, $12.98/tpmC, with thirty two (32) Intel Itanium(R) 2 processors at 1.0 GHz, each with 3MB iL3 cache, running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition 64-bit, with 512 GB RAM; Available: 6/30/2003