With the UltraSparc roll-out just around the corner, Sun Microsystems Inc this week starts adding end-of-life kickers to its high-end SparcServer 1000E and SparcCenter 2000E server lines. To begin with it is upgrading the 60MHz systems to an 85MHz version of SuperSparc II, which is as far as Sparc Technology Business has been able to push the troubled Viking design while maintaining yields. The planned 90MHz iteration, which sampled back in February, won’t now see the light of day. The 85MHz device includes Sparc Technology’s re-worked multiple command mode cache controller that other Sparc vendors have already used in 75MHz implementations, but is new to Sun’s own hardware. The controller can forward multiple cache misses to main memory; the previous controller could send cache misses only serially. Sun said the device increases the system-level transaction processing performance by up to 15%. Sparc Technology was interested to learn that the hardware folk are making such a big deal of the six-month old technology, even giving the device its own product name which was later found to be already taken. Running the as-yet unavailable SQL Server 11, Sun has given Sybase Inc a much needed leg-up back into the database performance stakes recording 4,544 tpmC at $396 per tpmC on a 16-way, 85MHz 2000E with 320Gb disk running Solaris 2.4. The Sun-Sybase number comes in second overall in the Transaction Processing Council’s Unix list, behind a 12-way Hewlett-Packard Co T500 running Oracle at 5,369.8/$535 tpmC, and ahead of a 20-way, 60MHz SparcCenter 2000E running Informix at 3,524/$495 tpmC. At $396 per tpmC gives the new Sun/SQL Server 11 system the fifth best cost per-transaction rating, behind a Compaq Computer Corp-Sybase set-up, two IBM Corp DB2 systems and an Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG-Informix combination. Sybase Server 11 is expected to be available by late next month, according to analysts. Sybase hopes the Sun numbers will help it put to rest the database scaling issue, which has been dogging it for many months. Although it is waiting on UltraSparc for the official unveiling Solaris 2.5, Sun has been dropping 2.5-based configurations into many recent presentations, indeed SPEC92 numbers for the kickers are based on Solaris 2.5. With two to 20 85MHz processors the 2000E is rated at 6,546 to 57,997 SPECrate_int92 and 6,284 to 54,206 SPECrate_fp92. The two-to-eight-way 1000E goes from 5,988 to 21,758 SPECrate_int92 and 5,805 to 20,851 SPECrate_fp92. Out this month the 1000E and 2000E are priced from $50,100 and $125,400. Upgrades to 85MHz are $5,000 and $10,000 respectively. SparcClusterPDB configurations go from $387,025 for a 1000PDB and $694,175 for the 2000PDB. Cray Research Inc will add the 85MHz part to its CS6400 SuperServers this week, promising a 35% performance hike AND no price rises.
