Solaris 10 Operating System and Sun Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 Set Multiple World Records on Server-Side Java Benchmark Across Sun Fire Product Line

May 18, 2006; 05:06 AM
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), the creator and leading advocate of Java technology, today announced that industry-leading Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers running open source UltraSPARC T1 processors and the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) -- the most advanced operating system on the planet -- set world-records for performance and beat competitive systems from Dell/Microsoft and IBM/AIX in recent SPEC Java Business benchmark (SPECjbb2005) testing. Sun also extended its lead in performance per watt and SWaP ratings, further demonstrating CoolThreads systems as the most efficient platform ever for delivery of web and application services.

The Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers equipped with the single UltraSPARC T1 processor and Solaris 10 OS out-performed a range of Intel Xeon-based 2-4 way servers running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 OS, and IBM 2-4 way POWER5 and POWER5+ based servers running AIX, all while consuming less power, resulting in over five times better performance per watt, and using up to one fourth the space -- critical factors affecting data center efficiency, capacity, and costs.

These latest benchmark tests showed:

• The Sun Fire T1000 set a new World Record for single CPU systems in a 1U footprint for SPECjbb2005, delivering 60,323 SPECjbb2005 bops;(1)
• The Sun Fire T1000 demonstrated a 2.5 times performance advantage over a Dell PowerEdge SC1425 server with two 3.6 GHz Intel Xeon processors, and nearly twice the performance of an IBM System 5 p5 520 server with one dual core 1.9 GHz POWER5+ processor , while requiring one fourth the space and less than half the electrical power;(2)
• The Sun Fire T1000 Server also demonstrated up to 5X better performance per watt than competitive systems;(3)
• The Sun Fire T2000 set a new World Record on SPECjbb2005 for servers in 2U footprint by delivering 74,365 SPECjbb2005 bops;(1)
• The Sun Fire T2000 demonstrated nearly twice the performance of an IBM eServer xSeries 346 with two dual core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon processors, and 1/3 more performance than IBM's latest 4-way POWER5+ based p510Q server.
• Performance per watt was at least 2 times higher than the Dell/Microsoft and IBM/AIX systems described above.(2)
• Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0_08 with Java HotSpot (TM) Virtual Machine technology and compiled with Sun Studio compilers extends Sun's best in class Java server performance with the above two new SPECjbb2005 world records running the open-source UltraSPARC T1 processor, demonstrating performance gains exceeding 17% over previous performance numbers using Java SE 5.0_06.

Sun's CoolTheads servers also deliver compelling price / performance: the Sun Fire T1000 server starts at just $2,995 and the Sun Fire T2000 Server at $7,795(4)

In addition, the Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 servers, which are powered by the fastest single-core AMD Opteron Model 256 processors, set two new World Records on the SPECjbb2005 benchmark, highlighting the performance of the Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0_08 . The benchmark stresses overall JVM performance, producing two equally important metrics -- total system throughput (SPECjbb2005 bops) and JVM scalability (SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM).

The Sun Fire X4000 family of servers running the Solaris 10 OS showed record performance for 2-socket, 2-way systems:(5)

• New high score of 38,090 SPECjbb2005 bops for throughput;
• New high score of 32,018 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM for JVM scaling.

These results show up to 17% better throughput and up to 6% better scalability than the previous best scores in these categories(6), as well as showcase the ability of Java HotSpot Server Virtual Machine to deliver outstanding results and optimized performance regardless of the underlying system architecture.

The SPECjbb Benchmark

SPECjbb2005 (Java Business Benchmark) measures the performance of a Java implemented application tier (server-side Java) based on the order processing in a wholesale supplier application. It also measures the performance of CPUs, caches, memory hierarchy and the scalability of shared memory processors (SMPs). The metrics given are number of SPECjbb2005 bops (Business Operations per Second) and SPECjbb2005 bops/Java Virtual Machine .

About JavaOne, Sun's 2006 Worldwide Java Developer Conference

The JavaOne Conference is one of the leading events for Java technology developers. Established in 1996, the Conference provides Java technology enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about the latest Java technology innovations, get hands-on experience with the technology, network with their peers, and have the opportunity to network directly with technology experts from Java technology industry leaders. For more information about the JavaOne Conference, visit http://java.sun.com/javaone/sf.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.