Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

I know - strange to be the 1st to reply to your own note!

But I was just thinking that one of the things we should do
immediately is restate our cost per TPC-B tps for the four node 6540
VAXcluster TPC-B benchmark we ran last November to reflect last week's
significantly lower 6000 pricing as well as the price reduction on
RA92s and new tape drives. This will at least help to close the
cost/tps gap.  It will also highlight our competitive edge over
"traditional" OLTP competitors such as IBM and Tandem. 

Is somebody working on this???

re:926.0 by CSOA1::FRASZ

�``The outstanding results of this benchmark demonstrate the 
�continued ability of Sequent and Oracle to deliver increasingly 
�powerful, functional and cost-effective online transaction processing 
�(OLTP) solutions,'' said Jerry Baker, Oracle Senior Vice President.

Isn't TPC-B mostly intended as a batch test.  Is that really OLTP?

    re -.1
    
    BINGO
    
    

 -----       Sequoia Systems posts first TPC-A /     
|C I S|                                    
 -----  
             Source : Business Wire              Date : 02-DEC-91



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MARLBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sequoia Systems Inc. 
(NASDAQ:SEQS) today released the industry's first benchmark using 
Oracle Corp.'s new Parallel Server relational database Version 6.2 
running on a fault-tolerant computing platform.

This TPC-A Benchmark was developed by the Transaction Processing 
Council.  The Sequoia Series 400 achieved 110 transactions per second 
(tps).  These results are the highest of any industry-standard database 
on a fault-tolerant system.  On a cost per transaction basis, this 
benchmark equates to $26,895 per transaction.  This supports the 
company's belief that it provides both a highly competitive, as well as 
fault-tolerant system in an open system environment.

Sequoia also announced that it will port Oracle's financial, 
manufacturing and office productivity applications to the Sequoia 
Series 400 computer, opening new markets and enhancing Sequoia's 
position as a significant provider of high-performance, commercial 
on-line transaction processing (OLTP) solutions.

``Historically, the industry has associated a two-times premium for 
continuously-available computing over the price of conventional 
computers,''  said Gabriel P. Fusco, chairman and chief executive 
officer of Sequoia Systems.  ``With the completion of this audited 
TPC-A benchmark, Sequoia has shown that for an approximate 15 percent 
difference, users can have continuous access to their information 
without interruption.''

``These results clearly position Sequoia as a leading vendor of 
commercial on-line transaction processing systems,'' Fusco said. 
``Combined with the availability of Oracle's application packages, we 
will be able to provide a complete systems solution.''

Continuous Availability Features of Version 6.2

Sequoia's implementation of ORACLE 6.2 brings together for first 
time the world's largest relational database company and its set of 
tools for application development, and a high-performance, 
fault-tolerant platform.  As a result, over 1,000 applications 
developed in ORACLE will be available on the Sequoia platform, 
extending the advantages of ORACLE products to the continuous 
availability arena.  Initial applications to be ported include ORACLE 
General Ledger, Accounts Receivable and Payable, Material Requirements 
Planning, and ORACLE Mail and other tools and utilities.

``Database performance is an important part of Sequoia's strategy 
for addressing OLTP in commercial environments,'' said A.J. Berkeley, 
Sequoia's vice president of marketing.  ``We are continuing development 
on a range of industry-standard database platforms,''

Sequoia's implementation of Oracle's Parallel Server technology is 
unique because it enables continuous availability of the database and 
its applications.  Multiple copies of the database server reside on the 
system.  If one database server fails, users can immediately log onto 
another copy, thereby maintaining the integrity of the database.

James Sha, vice president of Oracle's UNIX Products Division said, 
``We're pleased to see high industry-standard performance measurements 
using ORACLE Version 6.2 on the Sequoia systems.  It's a great 
combination, and we believe it will appeal to a large segment of the 
commercial marketplace.''

The implementation of ORACLE Version 6.2 for the Sequoia system is 
immediately available.  ORACLE applications for the Sequoia will be 
available through Oracle Corp. in 1992.


HP Fault-Tolerant Platform Supports Oracle 6.2

Hewlett-Packard Co., a strategic ally of Sequoia, also announced 
that ORACLE 6.2 will be available for its HP 9000 Model 1240 and Model 
1245 fault-tolerant systems.  HP resells Sequoia systems under these 
model names and has beta tested the ORACLE Parallel Server.

``This benchmark announcement confirms the performance leadership 
of our systems,'' said Bernard Guidon, general manager of HP's General 
Systems Division.  ``We are able to offer our customers the highest 
performance of any fault-tolerant platform.''

Benchmark Configuration

Sequoia performed the TPC-A benchmark in a wide-area network using 
an eleven-processor, full fault-tolerant Series 400 system.  The system 
was configured to support 1,100 users, and accessing 32 GB of data. 
The results were witnessed and audited by KPMG Peat Marwick, the 
world's largest professional services firm.

The Series 400, powered by Motorola Corp.'s 68040 microprocessor, 
can be expanded to 32 processors, delivering over 640 million 
instructions per second (mips).

The TPC-A benchmark, developed by the Transaction Processing 
Council (TPC), measures total system performance in update-intensive 
database environments typical of on-line transaction processing 
applications.  This benchmark defines rigorous five-year total 
cost-of-ownership standards for the calculation of cost per transaction 
in a wide-area network.  The total system cost includes all hardware 
(system, terminals, disks), software (operating system and database), 
networking (terminal servers and cabling) and five years of 
maintenance.

Sequoia Systems Inc. designs, markets, manufactures and supports 
high performance, fault-tolerant computers for on-line transaction 
processing and other interactive applications in which system 
availability, fast response times and data integrity are critical. 
Sequoia provides on-line service and maintenance support to its 
worldwide customer base.

The company has established strategic partnerships in geographic 
and market areas with dominant suppliers such as the Hewlett-Packard 
Co., Samsung, Sumitomo Electric, Computer Consoles, and the Ultimate 
Corp.  Major customers include manufacturers, distributors, financial 
institutions, insurance companies, telecommunications operations and 
federal agencies.  Sequoia (SEQS) is a publicly-held company which is 
traded on NASDAQ.