PERFORMANCE FLASH:
Digital's Internet AlphaServer Systems vs. Sun's Netra

Digital is the #1 vendor in the under-$25,000 RISC UNIX workgroup server market¹. Want proof?

In recent benchmark performance tests using Netscape Communications Server V1.1 software, Digital's AlphaServer 1000 4/266 and AlphaServer 400 4/233 surpassed Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Netra i20 in all performance and price/performance comparisons.

Digital's uniprocessor AlphaServer 1000 system accessed two times (2x) the number of files accessed by Sun's dual processor Netra i20, and the AlphaServer 400 was 60% faster at half the price! This means you can handle more traffic, or a larger number of simultaneous users at your Web site, and be more responsive to those visiting your home page.

If you need to get up onto the Internet and get down to business, Digital's Internet AlphaServer systems can get you there!



Graph:  Netscape Communications Server Software and WWW Workload 
        Number of Files Accessed per Hour (Higher is better!)

System                        Number of User Accesses per Hour
==============================================================

AlphaServer 1000 4/266               34,013
AlphaServer 400 4/233                27,420
Sun Netra i20 (2 CPUs)               16,547

==============================================================
Table:  Netscape Communications Server Software and WWW Workload     
        Number of User Accesses per Hour (Higher is better!)

Based on a home page size of 64 Kbyte (total file size), the previous graph/table data shows that a larger number of users can access your home page more often with Digital's Internet AlphaServer systems than with the Sun Netra i20.

DESCRIPTION OF NETSCAPE COMMUNICATIONS SERVER SOFTWARE AND DIGITAL'S WORLD WIDE WEB WORKLOAD

Netscape Communications Server software lets organizations present multimedia information, which can include formatted text, graphics, video, and audio, to the public over the Internet via the World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW is a loosely connected network of servers that make information available over the Internet using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The WWW is the fastest growing segment of the Internet today.

The Digital WWW workload used in these performance comparison tests consisted of a 16 Kbyte file, which is a typical file size requested and serviced on the WWW. Measurement of throughput performance was based on the number of users who accessed the 16 Kbyte file via Netscape on an hourly basis.

This test utilized greater than 32,000 files. Performance criteria was set at--

• CPU utilization no higher than 80%
• Service times to users of under 3 seconds
• No failed service requests

Because Digital's Internet AlphaServer systems are able to handle more WWW traffic and offer the best hardware warranty in the business, it is easy to see why Digital Internet AlphaServer systems are the industry's price/performance leaders.



TESTED CONFIGURATIONS

	AlphaServer 1000 4/266	AlphaServer 400 4/233	Sun Netra i20 Internet Server 2 CPU
Files per hour (16KB)	136,052	109,680	66,220
Service time (in sec.)	.69	1.07	1.2
Number of and CPU type	1 21064A 266MHz	1 21064 233MHz	2 Super SPARC 75MHz
Cache	2 MB	512KB	1 MB SuperCache
RAM	512MB	64MB	64MB
Network Controller	Ethernet	Ethernet	Ethernet
Disk Controller	SCSI	SCSI	SCSI
Operating System	Digital UNIX V3.2c	Digital UNIX V3.2c	Solaris* 2.4
WWW Server Software	Netscape Communications Server V1.1	Netscape Communications Server V1.1	Netscape Communications Server V1.1

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¹ Computer Intelligence InfoCorp (September 1995)




Updated: 31 May 1996