Sequent Computer Systems Inc is claiming record single-system TPC-D performance for its NUMA-Q server, a measure of how fast a system can process data warehouse and decision support queries. It says an eight-quad (32-way) Pentium Pro NUMA-Q server running Informix XPS database performed at a speed of 2667.67 QppD using a 300Gb warehouse. The previous best was Sun Microsystems Inc’s 64-way Ultra Enterprise 10000 server which recorded 2009.5 QppD. The NUMA-Q qualifies as a single-node system by only running a single instance of the Dynix/ptx operating system. The configuration isn’t generally available until December, however, because Informix XPS version 8.2 is now scheduled to go out on general release.
