SPEC Releases New Application Server Benchmark

WARRENTON, Va., November 21, 2002 -- The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) today released SPECjAppServer2002, a new benchmark that measures the performance of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.3 application servers connected to a database server.

SPECjAppServer2002 is a new version of the SPECjAppserver2001 benchmark released in September. It has been updated to use Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) 2.0 Container Managed Persistence (CMP) features available in J2EE 1.3 application servers. SPECjAppServer2002 takes advantage of EJB 2.0 features such as local interfaces, the EJB-QL query language, and Container Managed Relationships (CMR) between entity beans.

"SPECjAppServer2002 provides a level playing field for comparing application servers compatible with the latest J2EE 1.3 standard," 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

SPECjAppServer2002 focuses on testing the Enterprise JavaBeans container in a J2EE 1.3 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 SPECjAppServer2002 by two metrics: TOPS (Total 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 $/TOPS, the price/performance of the system under test (including hardware, software and support). While similar to the EJB 1.1-based SPECjAppServer2001 benchmark, the requirements for J2EE 1.3-compliant application servers and the use of EJB 2.0 create a unique workload for SPECjAppServer2002. Because of this, results cannot be compared to any other benchmark results.

Development work on SPECjAppServer is done by the SPEC/OSG Java Subcommittee, which produced the SPECjvm98, SPECjbb2000 and SPECjAppServer2001 benchmarks. SPEC members active in developing this benchmark include BEA, Borland, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Pramati, Sun and Sybase. Two SPEC associate members, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Technical University of Darmstadt, also participated in the benchmark's development.

Available Immediately

SPECjAppServer2002 is available immediately from SPEC for $2,000. More information is available at http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2002 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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