In comparative performance tests, the LANQuest Labs independent laboratory claims to have found that IBM Corp LAN Server Advanced v3.0 significantly outperformed both Microsoft Corp Windows NT Advanced Server v3.1, and Microsoft LAN Manager v2.2. Specifically, LANQuest says that LAN Server Advanced was 45% faster than NT Advanced Server, and 8% faster than LAN Manager v2.2 at the equivalent of 100 users. The tests were run over two 16Mbps Token Ring segments, using a series of test scripts and macros (including cut and paste, screen graphics redrawing, and data entry) running a variety of applications. The scripts were designed to combine local and network usage. The lab also found that LAN Server Advanced could support significantly more users on the 32Mb IBM PS/2 Model 95 80486DX/50 file server on which the tests were run: while LAN Server Advanced is said to have completed 94% of the test scripts at 400 equivalent users, NT Advanced Server failed to complete nearly half the test scripts at more than 100 equivalent users, and LAN Manager at more than 200 users; at 200 equivalent users, LAN Server Advanced was said to be 16% faster than LAN Manager. Brian McGiffert, General Manager at San Jose, California-based LANQuest acknowledges, however, that although it is hard to say what would have happened with real users, NT Advanced Server and LAN Server Advanced may well support more users than the tests showed: this is because the server delays caused the test scripts to be halted, where a user could have continued working after such a delay. He also qualified the results by saying that while LAN Server Advanced used OS/2 v2, (which can use the full 32Mb of server RAM), LAN Manager was run using OS/2 v1.3 (since it has not been upgraded to run with v2) which can only use a maximum of 16Mb of server memory which again would have inhibited the latter’s performance. LANQuest is at pains to point out that performance is only one of the issues when selecting the right network operating system, and that in publishing these figures it is not claiming to provide definitive proof of the superiority of LAN Server Advanced. Similarly, the lab points out that comparative performance can vary according to other factors, including the network configuration and the applications that are being used.
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