News
Compaq Introduces 64-bit AlphaServers
- By Scott Bekker
- 10/19/1998
Compaq Computer Corp. today introduced two new AlphaServer models based on Compaq's newest generation 64-bit Alpha 21264 (EV6) chip. Compaq reports that the new AlphaServer GS series announced worldwide today reportedly gives customers up to 2.5 times the application performance of the previous generation of AlphaServers.
The new series supports Digital Unix, OpenVMS and Microsoft Windows NT platforms. "The introduction of these AlphaServers under the Compaq logo reconfirms Compaq's commitment not only to the 64-bit Alpha processor but also to the three operating environments for these AlphaServers," says Richard Partridge, industry analyst for D.H. Brown Associates Inc. (Port Chester, N.Y.).
The performance of the Compaq AlphaServer GS series was tested by Margaret Crevar, manager of the SAS Institute Customer Technology Center, who says, "Running the same AlphaServer 8400 test on the Alpha 21264 processors produced results 1.76 to 2.58 times faster than with previous-generation chips - clearly exceeding our expectations."
Compaq's reports that while using the SPECweb benchmark standard, the Compaq AlphaServer GS140 broke Hewlitt-Packard Co.'s industry record by delivering Web pages at 14263 ops/sec with only 10 CPUs compared to HP's 9000 system running at 13811 ops/sec with 16 CPUs.
The Compaq AlphaServer GS140 system is designed specifically for large-scale business applications. The system was stress-tested running a large SAP R/3 Sales and Distribution application environment supporting more than 5,300 users, processing 550,000 order line items per hour and managing 1.2 TB of storage. Compaq reports that their AlphaServer systems were able to support more users per processor than any competitor's system -- more than twice as many as the Sun Enterprise 10000 and 26 percent more than the HP 9000 V2250. --Brian Ploskina, Assistant Editor
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.