| Title: | The Digital way of working |
| Moderator: | QUARK::LIONEL ON |
| Created: | Fri Feb 14 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5321 |
| Total number of notes: | 139771 |
Two-page advertisement in today's Boston Globe:
HMM. IS THAT It's probably a bit of both. Running
SCREAMING the new 64-bit pure Oracle7, our new
SOUND AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 systems give you performance gains that
COMING FROM sound unreal: up to one
OUR NEW 64-BIT hundred times
DATABASE faster than conventional 32-bit enterprise systems.
SERVER? With multiple 64-bit processors howling along at 300 Mhz
and Very Large Memory capability, they support the world's
largest in-memory relational database, and let your applications
directly adress up to 14GB of data in main memory.
OR FROM All of which could account for our competitors emitting
OUR 32-BIT some rather distressed noises, like the plaintive cry:
COMPETITORS? "Why would anyone
need 64-bit systems? Why would anyone need that much
power?" Several reasons: Like time. Money. And the
ability to gain a real competitive advantage. For
example, in the time it takes a 32-bit system to execute
a handful of stock trades, ours will let you do hundreds.
Global retail inventory that once took weeks now takes
days. You get the idea. The advantages extend in all
directions, to everything from on-line transaction
processing to micromarketing, decision support and more.
Fact is, it can give your whole information system
d|i|g|i|t|a|l a real boost, for around one-tenth the price of an IBM
ES/9000 running DB2. (Was that a yelp we just heard?)
For details, contact your Digital reseller. Or give us
a holler at 1-800-DIGITAL. Or reach us via our
Internet address: [email protected].
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3801.1 | Table from advert | I4GET::HENNING | Tue Apr 11 1995 07:57 | 26 | |
The advertisement also includes a table of facts and figures.
Digital HP Sun
AlphaServer 9000 SPARCenter
8400 5/300 T500 2000E
--------------------------------------------------------------
Max CPUs 12 12 20
--------------------------------------------------------------
CPU Speed MHz 300 90 60
--------------------------------------------------------------
SPECrate_int92 (max) >90,000 23,717 38,213
--------------------------------------------------------------
Max Memory 14GB 2GB 5GB
--------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Bandwidth 1600MB/s 500MB/s 800MB/s
--------------------------------------------------------------
I/O Bandwidth 1200MB/s 256MB/s 620MB/s
--------------------------------------------------------------
I/O Slots 144 PCI 112 HPPB 40 Sbus
--------------------------------------------------------------
(The CSD Performance Group will soon be publishing lots more performance
figures; email to PERFOM::CSGPERF to be added to mailing list.)
| |||||
| 3801.2 | Customer need instead of Specs! | MROA::JJAMES | Tue Apr 11 1995 09:57 | 11 | |
Why does the ad position the product against a mainframe in the text
and against HP and SUN in the chart?
Which hardware is most often sold with high end Oracle databases?
This ad has the clearest positioning I've ever seen of one of our
CPU products against a real need that the customer would recognize
(fast data access instead of a hardware spec). Why does DDB-N have to
detract from the message with all of the snide side comments?
| |||||
| 3801.3 | ROWLET::AINSLEY | Less than 150kts is TOO slow! | Tue Apr 11 1995 10:19 | 3 | |
I like the 'snide' comments! Bob | |||||
| 3801.4 | TROOA::SOLEY | Fall down, go boom | Tue Apr 11 1995 10:35 | 4 | |
The target customer has a "mainframe" today. Our competition in the
race to replace it is what you see in the chart.
Count me as another thumbs up on this advert.
| |||||
| 3801.5 | QUARK::LIONEL | Free advice is worth every cent | Tue Apr 11 1995 11:01 | 5 | |
I liked it too, but was puzzled that there was no IBM RS/6000 system in the chart. The inclusion of clock rate was dubious, though, since it's not a valid measure of comparison. No prices, either. Steve | |||||
| 3801.6 | HDLITE::SCHAFER | Mark Schafer, AXP-developer support | Tue Apr 11 1995 12:23 | 5 | |
Mr. Henning promises real performance numbers, but even he'd admit that
they are not the stuff of advertising. Clock rate is like horsepower,
it sticks with the buyer as they compare make&model.
Mark
| |||||
| 3801.7 | YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! | CAPNET::PJOHNSON | aut disce, aut discede | Tue Apr 11 1995 13:12 | 10 |
re: "Why does DDB-N have to detract from the message with all of the
snide side comments?"
What does this question refer to? The ad agency?
FWIW, IMO this is the most effective ad we have run in a long time. I
especially like yesterday's YEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW... teaser. I was
hoping that was us, and it was.
Pete
| |||||
| 3801.8 | LIVE WIRE announcement | MLNAD0::ANTONANGELI | The Customer is always left! | Tue Apr 11 1995 13:20 | 131 |
Attached is the LIVE Wire announcement (prices are included).
IMO, the most important part is that now Oracle (and all applications
using Oracle :-) ) is able to use the 64 bits. NOW we are giving
customers something really different from the competition: large
DBs in memory.
�A�
Worldwide News LIVE WIRE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World's most powerful servers debut today ... Date: 11-Apr-1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Screen 1 of 10
World's most powerful servers debut today
Digital today announced the computer industry's most powerful
server systems for demanding, large commercial and scientific
applications, which until now had been the domain of expensive
traditional mainframes and supercomputers.
The new AlphaServer 8400 enterprise server and AlphaServer 8200
departmental server are the first to use the record-breaking BIPS
(billion instructions per second) chip from Digital.
They deliver the industry's highest RISC performance and best
price/performance for business-critical applications at one-tenth the
price of the most widely used mainframes.
To complement the breakthrough servers, Oracle Corp. of Redwood
Shores, Calif., introduced 64-bit technology that enables businesses to
run the database portion of applications such as data warehousing,
video-on-demand, and online transaction processing up to 200 times
faster than on current 32-bit enterprise systems.
This is made possible by the new Oracle Very Large Memory (Oracle
VLM) capability of the Oracle7 database that exploits the 64-bit Alpha
architecture, Digital UNIX operating system, and 14GB maximum main
memory of the new servers.
Digital President and Chief Executive Officer Robert B. Palmer
said, "This exciting new technology demonstrates the capabilities of
Alpha. Commercial customers running decision-support applications can
extract vital information from mountains of data faster and more
economically than ever before. We believe this is a dramatic example
that demonstrates to customers what the power of 64-bit computing is
all about."
Lawrence J. Ellison, president and chief executive officer of
Oracle Corp. said, "Running large database and decision-support
applications with large amounts of data in main memory is a new
phenomenon that can yield dramatic performance gains.
"To do it requires 64-bit database software, 64-bit architecture,
and a 64-bit operating system. To do it now requires Oracle7, Alpha,
and Digital UNIX."
Advantages of Oracle VLM
Oracle's Very Large Memory option is a major technology
breakthrough in database performance. It allows a larger portion of
the database to reside in memory. As a result, more users can access
more critical data faster, with less time spent moving data to and from
disk.
Without Oracle VLM, this I/O process is very time-consuming and
limits application performance.
"The pure power of the new AlphaServer systems, coupled with very
large memory capacity and the Oracle7 database, offers customers a
whole new level of balanced performance for commercial applications,"
said Enrico Pesatori, vice president and general manager, Digital's
Computer Systems Division. "This enables new strategic capabilities
such as data warehousing and micromarketing at an unprecedented,
affordable price."
"With up to two times the performance of existing RISC machines,
AlphaServer systems also are ideal for compute-intensive applications,"
added Pauline Nist, vice president, Alpha Server Business. "Among
these are computational fluid dynamics, molecular modeling, finite
element analysis, electronic circuit simulation, geographic information
systems, and genetic engineering."
First 'BIPS' chip
The new AlphaServer systems are the first to use the Alpha 21164
"BIPS" chip, at 300MHz the world's most powerful microprocessor.
They are available in multiprocessing configurations with up to
12 processors (AlphaServer 8400) or up to six processors (AlphaServer
8200).
The systems offer the industry's best balance of processor
performance, memory, I/O bandwidth and bus choices, including PCI, the
industry's new standard in I/O bus technology.
The AlphaServer 8400 system also offers XMI and Futurebus+ buses
that enable connection of a wide variety of storage and communication
peripherals. The systems are available with the Digital UNIX or
OpenVMS operating system, and will support Windows NT in the future.
Competitive positioning
The AlphaServer systems outperform competitive offerings in
commercial and technical computing.
For commercial applications, the AlphaServer 8400 server is the
industry's first system to deliver performance of more than 300
SPECint92, nearly three times the performance of the next closest
competitive system, IBM's SP-2.
The AlphaServer 8400 system also delivers more than three times
the maximum SPECrate_int performance of Hewlett-Packard's most
powerful server, the HP 9000-800 T500 system, and more than twice that
of Sun's SPARCcenter 2000E system.
It offers twice the I/O bandwidth, more than twice the memory
capacity, and more than eight times the storage capacity of these
competitive commercial SMP platforms.
In technical computing, the AlphaServer 8400 system is the
industry's first to deliver performance results of more than 500
SPECfp92, which is more than 60 percent better than the closest
competitor, SGI's PowerChallenge XL system.
The AlphaServer 8400 system also delivers more than 20 percent
higher Linpack multiprocessor performance, and 82 percent better
price/performance results on the NAS parallel benchmark than SGI's
18-processor PowerChallengeXL system. It also provides more than three
times better price/performance than IBM's SP2-T2 system. Likewise,
Digital's AlphaServer 8200 system provides more than 60 percent higher
SPECfp92 performance than SGI's PowerChallenge L system.
Pricing, availability
The entry uniprocessor AlphaServer 8200 system, priced at
$100,000, includes power and packaging with a five-slot system bus for
CPU, memory, and I/O modules; 128MB of memory; an integrated I/O module
with SCSI and communication ports; a CD-ROM reader; a choice of OpenVMS
or Digital UNIX operating systems; and a one-year hardware warranty and
90-day software warranty. The entry uniprocessor AlphaServer 8400
system, priced at $195,000, has the same basic configuration in a
flexible package that offers more expansion for additional CPU, memory,
and I/O connectivity, and twice the amount of memory. The servers
carry a one-year, on-site hardware warranty.
| |||||
| 3801.9 | Pointer to detailed results | PERFOM::HENNING | Tue Apr 11 1995 16:03 | 69 | |
From: PERFOM::PERFOM::CSGPERF "NEW NAME - CSD Performance Group 11-Apr-1995 1417" 11-APR-1995 14:59
To: @REPORTS,TOPDOG::RJONES
CC: CSGPERF
Subj: Updated AlphaServer under Digital UNIX Performance Docs Available
+-------------+ TM
| | | | | | | |
|d|i|g|i|t|a|l| I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
| | | | | | | |
+-------------+
TO: Distribution DATE: April 11, 1995
FROM: Lee Allison
DEPT: CSD Performance Group
LOC : ZK02-3/M31
DTN : 381-0343
TEL: 603-881-0343
ENET: PERFOM::CSGPERF
[email protected]
SUBJECT: Updated Digital's AlphaServer Performance Documents Available
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Introducing Digital's new AlphaServer systems--
AlphaServer 8400 5/300
AlphaServer 8200 5/300
AlphaServer 2100 5/250
AlphaServer 2100 4/233
AlphaServer 2000 4/275
AlphaServer 2000 4/233
(2) Reporting their performance
results based on industry-standard and
industry-recognized benchmarks and workloads under
Digital UNIX operating system
CSD PG is pleased to announce the availability of the following AlphaServer
performance documents:
PERFOM::CSG_REPORTS:UNIX_SVR_PERF_BRIEF_950411.PS, -
UNIX_SVR_PERF_FLASH_950411.PS, -
UNIX_SVR_PERF_FLASH_950411.TXT
Note: The .TXT file is in ASCII format and must be printed in landscape mode,
i.e., 132 columns wide.
Please note that these performance documents may be given to customers.
Additionally, they will be available, in about a week, from:
1. Digital's Internet address gatekeeper.dec.com in the
/pub/Digital/DECinfo/performance/sys
2. Digital's WWW in the Digital Products and Services database
3. $ VTX IR 2 PB database
4. LOS Part Number: EC-N4882-10
Title: Digital AlphaServer Family Performance Brief Digital UNIX
We are interested in hearing any comments you have regarding these
documents. Please send comments, questions, and suggestions to
PERFOM::CSGPERF or [email protected].
| |||||
| 3801.10 | If I wasn't just dozing and dreaming... | WAYLAY::GORDON | dashboard potato | Tue Apr 11 1995 19:45 | 4 |
The announcement even made NPR's "Morning Edition" this morning. --Doug | |||||
| 3801.11 | AXEL::FOLEY | Rebel without a Clue | Tue Apr 11 1995 20:28 | 6 | |
And CNN tonight from what a co-worker just told me. (He was talking to someone at home when I popped in his office) mike | |||||
| 3801.12 | We still won't say the U-word | ASABET::SILVERBERG | My Other O/S is UNIX | Wed Apr 12 1995 08:47 | 6 |
and it's all because of Digital UNIX!!!
8-)
Mark
| |||||
| 3801.13 | REGENT::POWERS | Wed Apr 12 1995 09:28 | 12 | ||
> <<< Note 3801.10 by WAYLAY::GORDON "dashboard potato" >>>
> -< If I wasn't just dozing and dreaming... >-
>
> The announcement even made NPR's "Morning Edition" this morning.
But was it NPR's Morning Edition, or the local WBUR cut-ins on Morning Edition?
----- ----
We provincials often miss the distinction.
- tom]
| |||||
| 3801.14 | NOTIME::SACKS | Gerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085 | Wed Apr 12 1995 09:56 | 1 | |
I think it was WBUR. | |||||
| 3801.15 | WGBH and I'm pretty sure the segment was not just local | WAYLAY::GORDON | dashboard potato | Wed Apr 12 1995 10:11 | 5 |
Well, since I don't listen to it on WBUR and I can usually
distinguish between the NPR segments and the local statements, I'll
stand by my previous assertion.
--Doug
| |||||
| 3801.16 | We're finally getting some attention! | DV780::LANGFELDT | Coloradical | Wed Apr 12 1995 15:51 | 5 |
It was on national NPR, cuz I heard it at 4am in Denver! What a great
way to wake up!
Sharon
| |||||
| 3801.17 | TINCUP::KOLBE | Wicked Wench of the Web | Thu Apr 13 1995 16:06 | 1 | |
And I heard it in Colorado Springs. liesl | |||||
| 3801.18 | Can't Wait to See Competitors' Response | PENUTS::STEVENS | Mon Apr 17 1995 22:28 | 35 | |
Great Ad! Hopefully we're ready for rebuttals from our competitors.
HMM. IS THAT SCREAMING SOUND COMING FROM...
YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS?... wanting to know why YOU purchased some
new wiz-bang system that can't support
your current business applications.
YOUR OPERATIONS VP?... wanting to know why YOU purchased new
systems from a company that you've recently
complained is unresponsive when it comes to
technical support. ( insert snide remark )
1-800-BLACK-HOLE
YOUR I.S. MANAGER?... wanting to know about fault-tolerance and
wanting to know why your buying something that
the vendors field personnel have never seen,
installed or repaired.
Hopefully we will see rebuttals such as this because it will create
newsworthy dialog = ( P.R. / low cost advertising ) and provide
Digital with further recognition as a competitor. Negative, public,
feedback from competitors would also motivate our decision-makers to
provide funding and support for improvement efforts where needed.
I believe the Ad and the snide remarks, along with the FACTS, is
a great approach.
Regards,
Dave
| |||||