Benchmarking Summary

WebFORCE CHALLENGE and FastTrack Server combination provide 50% to 200%performance improvement at lower cost

WebFORCE CHALLENGE Server & Netscape FastTrack Provides at least 55% Price/Performance Advantage over Microsoft IIS

Performance Results

The WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S running the beta version of the Netscape FastTrack Server is 50% faster, and less expensive than Microsoft's Internet Information Server running on comparable priced Windows NT (Intel) hardware. Benchmarking tests run by SGI and audited by Mindcraft Inc. demonstrate that the WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S offers across the board better price performance using Netscape's FastTrack server than Microsoft IIS running on Windows NT (Intel). Netscape FastTrack Server on a WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S machine is 1.5 times faster than Microsoft's IIS when serving static HTML. The WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S / Netscape FastTrack Server is approximately 30% faster when 100% of the client requests are CGI based.

In serving 100% dynamic content using the Netscape NSAPI module, the WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S / Netscape FastTrack combination is up to 25% faster. Furthermore, in certain file/load configurations for NSAPI tests, results were achieved which were up to 200% faster than those presented by ISAPI. the Netscape NSAPI results are more relevant to real-world applications than only static HTML pages since most web sites today are integrating databases and other applications to offer dynamic, media rich content.

Performance Summary:

Figure 1. Peak Connections per second by file type, Challenge S and FastTrack

Figure 2. Peak Connections per second by file type, HP NetServer and Microsoft IIS (numbers are from Microsoft's Benchmark Report)

Using WebStone 1.1, Silicon Graphics ran the identical set of benchmarking tests which Microsoft used in their Benchmarking Report. Silicon Graphics configured a WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S with similar hardware options as the machine Microsoft used in their benchmarks, and tested it on a FDDI network against a quad processor Challenge L for load generation. The difference is in the results.

The WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S / Netscape FastTrack Server combination delivered 150% of the performance at a lower price than the Microsoft solution. A full report will be available soon.

SGI Hardware Configuration

• WebFORCE CHALLENGE-S - $18,950
  • 200MHz R4400 CPU
  • 64 MB of RAM
  • 2GB Hard Disk
  • IRIX 6.2
  • FDDIXPress network hardware

Microsoft Hardware Configuration

• Hewlett-Packard NetServer LS servers: $19,079
  • Intel Pentium CPU running at 133 MHz
  • 1 megabyte L2 Cache
  • 32 megabytes of RAM
  • Two 1 gigabyte Hard disk drives
  • Digital Tulip 100 megabit Ethernet Card
  • Windows NT Server, version 3.51, with Service Pack 3 installed
    

Real-World Examples: Netscape surpasses 8 Million hits per day on CHALLENGE Servers

• In a production environment, WebFORCE CHALLENGE servers perform even better - Netscape Communications deployed a WEBFORCE CHALLENGE S as part of www.netscape.com which achieved over 8 million hits in one day!
• When combining databases and Web solutions, CHALLENGE Symmetric Multiprocessing servers excel - as demonstrated not only by our outstanding database benchmarks (see above), but also be satisfied, real-world clients like Sabre Interactive's Travelocity Site.
• In addition, thousands of other customers are powered by Silicon Graphics WebFORCE systems today.

Complete, High Performance Web Solutions

WebFORCE CHALLENGE Servers deliver the best performance and scalability in the industry. Based on the CHALLENGE dedicated server line from Silicon Graphics, integrating Netscape Web servers and WebFORCE Cosmo software solutions, WebFORCE CHALLENGE servers offer the highest performance, most scalable web solution available today. Both benchmarks and real-world examples highlight the superior performance and scalability of WebFORCE CHALLENGE Servers:

WebFORCE is dedicated to providing solutions for both the World Wide Web and the Intranet with:

• WebFORCE Intranet , a scalable, turnkey line of workstation and serving solutions for the enterprise Web, takes these capabilities to the next level with Intranet Junction, a first-of-its-kind web site builder designed to automatically generate customized Intranet sites, employing a point-and-click Web user interface. In addition, WebFORCE Intranet solutions are integrated with Netscape SuiteSpot - Netscape Enterprise 2.0 Web Server with LiveWire Pro, Proxy Server, Catalog Server, News, and E-Mail servers.
• WebFORCE -integrating next-generation Netscape Web servers and Silicon Graphics Cosmo software environment with Indy Workstations and CHALLENGE Servers to provide professional authoring solutions and scalable serving solutions for the World Wide Web.

Netscape Servers are only the beginning of the WebFORCE solution. WebFORCE provides Cosmo - an integrated Authoring, Serving, and Management environment, integrated into all WebFORCE solutions.

• Cosmo Create enables easy HTML and VRML authoring
• Cosmo Code is the first visual development environment for Java
• Cosmo Player is the first VRML 2.0, cross-platform player
• Cosmo Mediabase enables management and deployment of streaming media assets

Cosmo Site provides a visual overview of your Web site, displaying links and site activity.

WebMeter provides tools for monitoring and analysis of multiple web servers. WebMeter provides strip chart and 3-D views of web and system activity, allows you to set unattended alarms, and provides recording and playback of events for long term analysis.

For more information on WebFORCE, please email webforce@sgi.com

To find out more about the entire line how Netscape servers check out Netscape Server Central.

Complete Test Results

There are the complete results for the benchmark of the WebFORCE CHALLENGE S and Netscape FastTrack.