Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation

SPEC Releases Application Server Benchmark

Measures J2EE and database server performance

WARRENTON, Va., September 4, 2002 -- The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) today released SPECjAppServer2001, a new benchmark for measuring the performance of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application servers connected to a database server.

SPECjAppServer2001 is derived from ECperf 1.1 (JSR-131), developed under the Java Community Process (JCP). The JCP is an international organization of developers and licensees that determines how the Java platform evolves. Changes were made to the ECperf 1.1 code and metrics to comply with SPEC's run and reporting rules.

"SPECjAppServer2001 provides a level playing field for comparing application servers compatible with J2EE 1.2," says Kaivalya M. Dixit, SPEC president. "J2EE is the foundation software in many modern e-commerce implementations. This benchmark enables users to test and compare hardware and software platforms to achieve optimal performance for these implementations."

Emulating a Real-World Workload

SPECjAppServer2001 focuses on testing the Enterprise JavaBeans container in a J2EE 1.2 server. The workload models a manufacturing, supply-chain management and order/inventory environment. Performance results for the benchmark are influenced primarily by hardware configuration, J2EE application software, and database software.

Performance is evaluated in SPECjAppServer2001 by two metrics: BOPS (Business Operations Per Second), which is the number of customer order transactions plus the number of manufacturing work orders divided by the measurement period in seconds; and $/BOPS, the price/performance of the system under test (including hardware, software and support). Since SPECjAppServer2001 results are based on a unique workload, they cannot be compared to any other benchmark results.

Development work on SPECjAppServer is done by the SPEC/OSG Java Subcommittee, which produced the SPECjvm98 and SPECjbb2000 benchmarks. SPEC members active in developing this benchmark include BEA, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Pramati, Sun and Sybase. Two SPEC associate members, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Technical University of Darmstadt, also participated in the benchmark's development.

Available Immediately

SPECjAppServer2001 is available immediately from SPEC for $2,000. More information is available at http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2001 or through e-mail at info@spec.org.

About SPEC

SPEC is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains and endorses standardized benchmarks to measure the performance of the newest generation of high-performance computers. Its membership comprises leading computer hardware and software vendors, universities, and research organizations worldwide. For more information, contact Dianne Rice, SPEC, 6585 Merchant Place, Ste. 100, Warrenton, VA 20187, USA; phone: 540-349-7878; fax: 540-349-5992; e-mail: info@spec.org; web: www.spec.org.

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Press contacts:
Bob Cramblitt, Erin Hatfield
Cramblitt & Company
919-481-4599; cramco@cramco.com

ECperf, J2EE, Java, EJB, JSR and JCP are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
SPECjAppServer and SPECjbb are trademarks of SPEC.