Oracle and HP set world record performance on Linux

World Record Result Demonstrates Low Cost, Scale-out Performance and Price/Performance Leadership with Oracle Database® 10g on a Cluster of HP Integrity Servers with Intel® Itanium® 2 Processors running Linux

The result was achieved with Oracle® Database 10g, HP Integrity servers with Intel® Itanium® 2 processors and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.0. The benchmark not only sets a new industry record, but also reflects the power of industry standard-servers running the Linux operating system in "scale out" clustered server configuration.

This announcement comes on the heels of the recent world-record single-system scale-up benchmark announcement by the HP and Oracle, which was the first result to surpass one million transactions per minute (tpmC) with the Transaction Processing Council's TPC-C benchmark. HP and Oracle together hold the only single-system and clustered results over one million transactions per minute, ever published. (1)

Unmatched price/performance
The HP Integrity rx5670 cluster achieved 1,184,893.38 tpmC with a price/performance ratio of $5.52/tpmC. The result is over 50% faster than the nearest competitive hardware vendor and delivers better than a thirty percent improvement in price/performance. (2) The benchmark was completed on a 16-node cluster of four-way HP Integrity rx5670 servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.0 and Oracle Database 10g with Real Application Clusters. The cluster configuration used HP StorageWorks storage solutions including the Modular SAN Array 1000 with 18 GB, 36 GB and 146 GB drives.

"Today's result is a major milestone in the history of database computing," said Tarek Shahawi, Technology Manager Oracle Middle East. "We have now shown that Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters can deliver the world's best transaction processing performance on clusters of low cost industry-standard servers running cost Linux." He added

HP and Oracle have a strong history in performance leadership and are now extending it to price/performance leadership.(3)

"HP and Oracle offer customers the choice, scalability and availability to meet their most demanding needs," says Rich Marcello, senior vice president and general manager of Business Critical Servers, HP. "Today's benchmark result, coupled with our recent Superdome world record, solidifies the leadership position of HP Integrity servers in providing customers the ultimate in flexibility, performance and total cost of ownership regardless of whether customers choose scale-out or scale-up environments. This world record is another prime example of how HP is partnering with Oracle and Intel to drive industry-standard computing to new levels."

"Within a month, we have seen the 1 Million Transactions per minute barrier broken again, this time on a cluster of HP Integrity servers with Intel(r) Itanium(r) 2 and Linux," said Samer Karawi, Marketing Manager - Business Critical Systems HP Middle East . "This data demonstrates the flexibility of Itanium-based servers running Linux. As IT managers look to find the most competitive solutions for their enterprise needs, we believe they will increasingly look to Itanium 2 for performance, manageability, and cost/benefit."