Hardware comparability in benchmark comparisons

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What's fair? PRICE

My former employer had a yearly workstation benchmark process. We would invite the big 4 UNIX workstation vendors (HP,Sun,IBM,SGI), give them the applications and test matrix - and let them tune their boxes to their hearts content. After the benchmark was complete, we looked at price/performance numbers and made an informed decision. Bear in mind that this company purchased about 1000 workstations per year - which is enough to keep the vendors interested and "honest". Even the losers of the benchmark came back with lower quotes to win business (SGI lost one year and we ended up buying O2 workstations for a couple grand - a rock bottom price in those days).

It was relatively simple to benchmark UNIX CAD/CAM workstations - as the user experience is not too hard to measure. We tried looking at this same process for servers, but the costs of running it were high. To stress test a large infrastructure application, you would need server, SAN, Disk arrays, network, power and SOFTWARE LICENSES for things like Oracle, Datastage, Websphere, etc. Not to mention that some apps don't run on some platforms, so you need "equivalents". Then you have to compare things like - does support come with the platform (bundled) or separate (a la carte)? Just looking at a bill of sale for a large server is pretty disheartening (IBM P690: Power cord - $1000, Front rack door - $5000, Rear rack door - $4000, Total rack price (no computer) $40k). Would price/performance be better if we left off the doors? . . .

Posted by: Roger Ramjet   Posted on: 04/16/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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