IBM Unix Server Continues Record-setting Run


___With 3000 Systems Shipped in Sixteen Months, IBM S80 is Fastest Selling High-end Server Ever

ARMONK, NY., February 9, 2001 ... IBM today announced that it has reached a new milestone in server sales with the shipment of the 3000th S80 server, making the ultra-powerful IBM UNIX system the fastest-selling high-end server in history.

The 3000th S80 was delivered recently to United Airlines, to help power the company's International Pricing System. The Chicago-based airline purchased three S80's to power its Revenue Management applications.

"We selected the S80 after an intensive search for a highly scalable and reliable server platform that could deliver the raw computing power we needed," said Raj Sivakumar, Director of Research and Development at United Airline's Information Services Division. "We evaluated other systems, but IBM had the right combination of performance and price. The S80 provides us dramatic gains in scalability, manageability and overall computing capacity."

The three S80 servers run AIX, IBM's robust UNIX operating system and will join an IBM SP Supercomputer as the centerpiece of United Airline's Revenue Management application suite.

"Customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to growing Internet-based businesses are choosing the S80 to power a wide variety of mission-critical e-business and other compute intensive applications," said Mike Kerr, vice-president, IBM eServer. "The unprecedented reception to the S80 proves that customers want unparalleled performance, scalability and reliability at a price far below the competition."

D.H. BROWN on IBM UNIX Systems

Today's announcement follows the release last month of an independent D.H Brown study that cites three major factors why customers choose the S80 over competing systems:

* Price/performance -- An IBM S80 with 24 copper microprocessors outperforms comparable 64-way systems. With many software applications priced on a per processor basis, choosing a less expensive, but faster S80 with fewer processors results in two cost savings, -- the initial one at purchase and a savings on the purchase of software -- while actually gaining in performance.

* Scalability -- Customers indicated the low entry price of a minimally configured S80 allowed them to stay within budget, but the superior scalability of the S80, which uses only 24 copper microprocessors to outperform larger 64-way systems, gave them significant room to meet technology needs as their businesses grew.

* IBM's superior technology roadmap -- Customer frequently cited IBM's image, level of service and technology roadmap as key factors in making a purchasing decision.

Industry's Most Decorated Servers

Soon after its introduction in September of 1999, the IBM S80 server became the most decorated performer in the history of industry performance benchmarks - simultaneously holding ten number one positions, more than any other server in history*. IBM extended that record of dominance recently with the introduction of the IBM eServer p680, the more powerful companion product to S80, which now holds the number one spot on many of the same benchmarks.

In head-to-head comparisons versus the competition, the IBM eServer p680 equipped with up to 24 copper-based Silicon-on-Insulator microprocessors wins the overwhelming majority of performance benchmarks, exceeding the performance of more expensive UNIX-based systems using up to 64 microprocessors. The performance of a less expensive p680 with 24 microprocessors is about 40 percent better than a comparable competitive system with 64 microprocessors**.

For more information on record-setting benchmark performance of IBM UNIX servers, see: http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/features/2000/Feb/s80.html

###

About IBM eServer

IBM is the number one server vendor in the world.

* Additional information: www.ibm.com/servers or www.rs6000.ibm.com
**p680 220,807.27 tpmC @ $43.30 $/tpmC
Sun E10000 156,873.03 tpmC @ $48.81 $/tpmC
Source 2/8/01 www.tpc.org
The 24-way p680 is over 40% faster than a more expensive 64-way Sun E10000 based on the leading industry transaction processing benchmark TPC-C.

The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the descriptive term "server" following it.

IBM, RS/6000 and AIX are registered trademarks or trademarks of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Limited. TPC-C
IBM S80 and p680 Benchmark #1's - :

P680 and S80 leadership benchmarks - February 8, 2001

RankSystemBenchmark
#1p680TPC-C220,807.27 tpmC @ $43.30
#1p680SPECweb998,344 simultaneous connections
#1S80SPECweb9640,161 http operations per second
#1p680VolanoMark133,251 messages per second at 200 concurrent connections
#1 (12-way)p680SPECjbb200056,834 business operations per second
#1S80SAP ATO
Three tier		54,220 oders per hour
#1S80Oracle
Standard Apps		14,000 users
#1p680BaanERP
Host BRUs		11,886 BRUs
#1 p680PeopleSoft
General Ledger		15,584,416 journal operations per hour
#1p680PeopleSoft
Payroll		533,547 employees processed per hour


    All information is as of 2/8/01 from: www.spec.org, www.tpc.org and vendor press releases

    --30--

    CONTACT: IBM, Armonk
             Jim Larkin, 914/766-4266
             larkinj@us.ibm.com


from http://www.ibm.com/press/prnews.nsf/Print/DF19BBAF49392087852569EE005069EA