Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT Sets Price/Performance Record on Industry-standard TPC-B Benchmark Audited Results Confirm New Standard in RDBMS Performance REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 14, 1993 - The Microsoft* SQL Server relational database management system for the Microsoft Windows NT* operating system has set a price/performance record in independently audited tests announced today by Microsoft Corporation and Compaq Computer Corporation. In tests running on Compaq* ProLiant systems, Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT delivered unprecedented microcomputer performance, including a transaction rate of 226.32 transactions per second (tpsB) at a cost of $440.88 per transaction in one configuration - nearly half the cost of the previous price/performance record. The 226.32 tpsB number, achieved on a dual- processor Pentium*-based Compaq ProLiant, represents transaction rates attainable in the past only on mainframe- class computers. In addition, Microsoft SQL Server also achieved a tpsB of 93.84 at a cost of $562.96 per transaction on a single-processor i486*-based ProLiant - one of the highest rates ever attained on an industry- standard i486 machine and a rate that is superior to those achieved by single-processor workstation-class computers. "Today's audited benchmark results prove the benefits that SQL Server users can gain by moving to Windows NT," said Roger Heinen, senior vice president, database and development tools division at Microsoft. "Costs of $2,000 to $5,000 per transaction are typical for this level of performance from minis and mainframes, and $800 was the previous price/performance record for server- based systems. SQL Server for Windows NT offers the best price/performance of any SQL database management system used in enterprise and line-of-business information systems." "The combination of the Compaq ProLiant servers with Microsoft Windows NT version 3.1 and SQL Server for Windows NT is ideally positioned for scalable database platforms," said John Paul, vice president, systems division, system software at Compaq. "These TPC-B results clearly demonstrate the outstanding value of this combination of hardware and software, and almost cuts in half the world- record TPC-B price/performance number previously set by Compaq less than a year ago." The Microsoft and Compaq Configuration The TPC-B* benchmark is a standard defined by the Transaction Processing Performance Council, a non- profit organization founded to define transaction processing and database benchmarks. The council includes nearly all major hardware and software vendors providing online transaction processing. The TPC-B is a database stress test simulating hundreds or thousands of transactions in batch mode, modeling activities such as a central MIS department conducting a roll-up of daily sales orders. On the TPC-B benchmark, this Microsoft/Compaq configuration significantly outperformed other systems, based on published benchmark results. The 226.32 tpsB rate and $440.88 cost per transaction were achieved on Windows NT and SQL Server for Windows NT running on a Compaq ProLiant 2000 5/66-4200A server. The server included two 66Mhz Pentium microprocessors with 128MB main memory, 256KB secondary cache, four 2GB RAID 1 disks for the database log and 16 1GB RAID 0 disks for the database. The client configuration was a Compaq ProLinea 4/50 model 120W. The 93.84 tpsB rate and $562.96 cost per transaction were achieved on Windows NT and SQL Server for Windows NT running on a single i486-based Compaq ProLiant 2000 model 486/50-4200A. "These benchmarks demonstrate that SQL Server for Windows NT offers scalable performance from the single-processor desktop to the high-end performance of symmetric multiprocessor- and RISC-based servers," said Colin White, president of DataBase Associates, an independent database consultancy in Morgan Hill, Calif. "Companies can use the same database on a variety of hardware to support various user requirements today, and as their needs grow, companies can get more performance and support more users by scaling up to more powerful hardware or increasing the number of processors, rather than having to replace their database system." Customers Able to Independently Verify Audited Results To publish TPC numbers, a vendor must submit to the Transaction Processing Performance Council a full disclosure report describing the benchmark, hardware and software configuration, and other details. In addition to this submission, Microsoft took the additional step of having the benchmark results independently audited by Tom Sawyer of the auditing firm of Performance Metrics Inc. of Los Gatos, Calif. Microsoft adhered to both the letter and the spirit of the councils guidelines. Performance Metric's audit confirms the absence of "benchmark specials" - database code added specifically to enhance database performance during benchmark testing but otherwise not applicable for business use. Further, Microsoft will be publishing a benchmark kit including the full specifications and source code used in the test. The benchmark kit, to be available shortly on CompuServe*, will allow customers to independently verify the results. "A single benchmark test can be only the first step in customer evaluations of a high-performance database, but done rigorously and openly, a benchmark can give customers a good baseline for relative performance among products," said Heinen. "We encourage all database vendors to be equally forthcoming with full disclosure of their benchmarking tests and methodology, and of course we encourage customers to develop additional tests of their own that best simulate their particular application requirements." System Requirements and Availability SQL Server for Windows NT has the following system requirements: Microsoft Windows NT operating system 3.1 or Windows NT Advanced Server; Intel* 386DX-25 or higher processor; 16MB of RAM; and 30MB of free disk space. SQL Server for Windows NT is available from Microsoft, Microsoft Solution Providers and various resellers. For more information, please contact Microsoft at (800) 227-4679.