Commercial workload performance in the IBM POWER 2 RlSC System

Introduction Data-intensive applications such as transaction processing and file servers form a major market segment for computer systems. These applications are collectively called “commercial” applications, as most were initially used primarily by commercial enterprises such as banks, airlines, and insurance companies. Early microprocessorbased systems simply could not handle such data-intensive applications because they did not have enough processing power and I/O connectivity to accommodate large numbers of data processing users concurrently. In recent years, the dramatic increase in the processing power available from microprocessors has made it possible for systems such as RISC-based workstations to compete in markets that were once exclusively the domain of mainframes. In fact, commercial applications represent one of the most rapidly growing market segments for RISC-based UNIX@ workstations today [l]. In this paper, we examine some of the features of the POWER2TM-based RISC System/6000@ that make it suitable for the commercial workload arena. We begin by describing the performance characteristics of commercial workloads. We then discuss our analysis methodology and some of the common benchmarks used by the industry to compare commercial performance. This is followed by a discussion of the POWER2 hardware features that contribute to the enhanced commercial performance of the RISC System/6000.