Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation

SPEC releases new benchmark for evaluating SIP server performance

GAINESVILLE, Va., September 6, 2011 - The non-profit Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) has released SPECsip_Infrastructure2011, a new benchmark for evaluating performance of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servers.

SPEC SIP subcommittee members include IBM, Intel, Oracle and Red Hat. Supporting contributions were provided by Shay Gal-On of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmarking Consortium (EEMBC).

SPECsip_Infrastructure2011 is based on a proxy server modeling a VoIP deployment for an enterprise, telco or service provider. Within the SPECsip_Infrastructure2011 workload, clients emulate the typical behavior of users sending and receiving SIP traffic. User behavior patterns are based on studies by Communigate Systems and IBM. The primary metric for SPECsip_Infrastructure measures the simultaneous number of supported subscribers while meeting several quality of service (QoS) requirements.

Benefits for vendors and users

The new benchmark is expected to be used by developers, testers, performance analysts and purchasing decision-makers.

SIP software vendors will use it to evaluate and improve performance of their server products, and hardware vendors will use it to determine how well their servers can handle VoIP workloads. Users can benefit from SPECsip_Infrastructure2011 in multiple ways, according to SPEC SIP subcommittee chair Erich Nahum.

"The primary benefit for users is comparing performance of competing SIP servers in a VoIP environment," says Nahum. "Comparisons can be made through results posted on the SPEC web site, by users running the benchmark as is, or by users customizing the benchmark workload to better match their local environments. In addition to performance comparisons, the benchmark is a great tool for optimizing server provisioning."

Future releases from the SPEC SIP subcommittee are expected to focus on SIP applications and the Java SIP container. Additional details about SPECsip_Infrastructure2011 can be found at www.spec.org/sipinf2011.

Available now

SPECsip_Infrastructure2011 is available immediately on CD for $800; discounts are available for qualified non-profit and educational institutions. To order, contact the SPEC office: phone: 1.703.579.8460; fax: 1.703.579.8463; email: info@spec.org; web: www.spec.org.

About SPEC

SPEC (www.spec.org) is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains and endorses standardized benchmarks to evaluate performance for the newest generation of computing systems. Its membership comprises more than 70 leading computer hardware and software vendors, educational institutions, research organizations, and government agencies worldwide.

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