Running the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i (11.5.10) Benchmark, also known as the Oracle Applications Standard Benchmark (OASB), an SGI "Altix" 450 system delivered twice the performance of the previous record holder in tests that measure average response times for 2,000 online users. The SGI system also delivered record hourly throughput in Oracle's measurement of order management and payroll batch business processes.

"For years, SGI customers have known that SGI Altix systems move data faster than any other servers in their class", stated Ken Won, director, enterprise data management, SGI. "These Oracle benchmark results offer more proof that SGI's extensive experience in helping organisations work with big data and complex business processes is paying dividends for today's enterprise."

The Oracle E-Business Suite 11i benchmark test results demonstrate the exceptional scalability of the Altix 450 system. In fact, the SGI Altix 450 actually improves as the number of users grows. At 1400 users, Altix delivers at least 23 percent more throughput than other tested systems. The Altix advantage increases to 36 percent with 1800 users, and reaches 40 percent with 2000 users.

In the on-line test, Altix 450 retains a consistently low response time, despite the addition of hundreds of on-line users. For instance, as the number of users grows from 1400 to 2000, the average response time of the Altix 450 slows by only 12 percent, a 3X advantage over any tested system.

"SGI Altix scales where other systems fail, and this is terrific news for organisations with complex e-business environments running Oracle Database 10g", added Ken Won. "No other system put to these tests provides the Altix system's blistering fast response times and high throughput. Meanwhile, SGI uniquely delivers the scalability and headroom enterprises need to meet their future needs on the same system."

SGI's tested configuration included:

• Database server tier: SGI Altix 450 system driven by 12 Intel Itanium 2 dual-core, single-threaded processors and featuring 144GB of memory and running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 4 (Update 4)
• Application server tier: Four SGI Altix XE240 servers, each powered by two Intel Xeon dual-core processors and 16GB of memory and running Oracle Enterprise Linux
• Storage tier: SGI InfiniteStorage 4500 system with a dual RAID controller and eight trays, each outfitted with 16, 146GB, 15K RPM drives

The results were independently audited and verified on July 25.

The Oracle E-Business Suite 11i benchmark provides metrics for comparing Oracle application performance on different system configurations. It uses a mixed workload model to simulate the various transactions operating within an enterprise. The on-line benchmark exercises the user interface flows most frequently used by Oracle customers. The batch flow tests consist of a high-volume order processing programme used to process and import orders in batch mode, and a payroll processing programme used to process employee checks in batch mode.