DEC has run the new Pendragon Software Corp Java benchmarks through its Alpha RISC-based Just-in-Time compiler, claiming a performance of 10,010 against the Embedded CaffeineMark 3.0 suite which tests for server-side Java performance. Running the compiler on 64-bit Digital Unix, DEC claims it outperforms The Open Group’s TurboJ compiler running the same benchmark on Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP-UX Unix, which yielded a result of 6,564. Measured against the entire CaffeineMark 3.0 suite – the new ‘unoptimizable’ 3.0 release – DEC’s compiler achieved 4,777. By comparison, a 300MHz Pentium II running NT 4.0 performs 3,963. DEC says the improved compiler runs three times as fast as the initial version it introduced last May, on the same hardware. DEC’s JIT uses Sun’s JDK 1.1.5 code. It says it is currently migrating to the 1.2 JDK which it will introduce the same time as Sun rolls out its implementation. Sun’s 1.2 release will include the go-faster HotSpot Java Virtual Machine that DEC says it will migrate to use over time. It thinks a mixture of JIT and JVM performance improvements will increase the use of Java for writing enterprise applications. DEC, which does not offer a Java server per se, says its Java work will be ported to Intel Corp’s IA-64 architecture as Digital Unix moves across.
