The 64-bit version of SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, which was launched last week, expands the memory capabilities of SQL Server beyond the 4GB 32-bit ceiling, according to Microsoft SQL Server product manager, Mitch Gatchalian. This enables the product to handle very large complex queries, he said.

Previously Microsoft has enabled scalability beyond this ceiling through the clustering of multiple databases, but as Gatchalian noted: some customers want to scale up, rather than scale out.

The memory capabilities of 64-bit SQL Server, combined with the performance improvements that have been delivered with Intel Corp’s Itanium 2, now enable the company to compete in application areas that have previously been the preserve of Unix, Oracle and IBM, according to Gatchalian.

Microsoft is really, really going for that high-end market, he said. We’re going into accounts where previously we just couldn’t have had a conversation with the CIO and business decision makers.

As evidence of the capabilities of 64-bit SQL Server, Gatchalian pointed to recent TPC-C on-line transaction processing results from server hardware vendors that have vastly improved the position of Microsoft’s software. Previously we were in the game, but we were not even in the top five, he said. Now SQL Server has the number-one position for both clustered and non-clustered systems.

Microsoft’s position was helped first by NEC Corp, which in April broke through the 500,000 transactions per minute barrier with its 32-way Express5800/1320Xc server using 1.5GHz Itanium 2 processors running 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000.

While NEC’s TPM throughput of 514,035 certainly raised the bar for Windows-based systems, its record lasted just one day as Hewlett-Packard Co weighed in with 658,278 TPM with its 64-way Superdome server running 64-bit Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 on 1.5GHz Itanium 2 processors.

While those performance figures are undoubtedly impressive, they are achieved used the Madison versions of Itanium 2, which are not scheduled to be launched until mid-2003. In the meantime, Gatchalian admitted that potential customers need to hear user stories that indicate that these levels of performance can be achieved in live business environments.

This is especially true as many of the first 64-bit Itanium 2 server deployments have come at high-performance computing projects such as those at educational and research establishments. HPC environments such as universities were the first to be interested in Itanium, Gatchalian admitted, but now organizations like Reuters and JetBlue are looking at running applications on the Itanium platform.

JetBlue is a New York-based low-cost airline, which has recently deployed both 64-bit Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 to improve the performance of its frequent flyer application. The company moved the application from two 32-bit servers to a single 64-bit server to cope with the addition of 3,000 new frequent flyer members per day. According to the company, transactions per second almost doubled from 190 to 370 at 100% processor utilization with the new system.

This is the customer workload, said Gatchalian. This is where it matters. He said he expects there to be a stream of new customer proof points around 64-bit computing as the year goes on. We’re seeing an increasing number of customers up to halfway into proof of concept projects. It’s new technology and it’s recently been launched, but once it starts rolling it will gain momentum, he said.

Source: Computerwire