D.H. Brown releases extensive study of IBM OS 400 V3.1; When compared to its UNIX competitors, OS 400 V3.1 wins.

PORT CHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1995--D.H. Brown Associates Inc. (DHBA), a leading information technology research and consulting firm, today released the results of its comprehensive operating system study entitled "OS/400: A Heavy Duty Operating System."

When compared to its principal UNIX competitors, OS/400 V3.1 was the leading product in both the feature/function and the overall commercial server ranking, followed by IBM's AIX V4.1, Digital's OSF/1 V2.0, Sun's Solaris V2.3 and Hewlett Packard's HP-UX V9.0. OS/400 V3.1 leads in 7 of 11 different functional categories reviewed.

The products reviewed in this 76-page study were evaluated based upon their commercial processing server capabilities. DHBA rated the five products against operating system requirements, including more than 100 features within 11 categories. The features were evaluated and graded individually, then prioritized for server requirements.

Nili Young, executive vice president of commercial systems research at DHBA and manager of the study, said, "The high cost of distributed computing has been well documented. Although the kernel wars are over, shortfalls in operating system functionality do increase those costs. Users are now actively evaluating real-world operating system features needed to address many of the top priority distributed requirements, such as ease-of-use, ease-of-administration, integrity, security, storage and systems management. What we've done is to provide our clients with concrete product recommendations based upon the various operating systems' capabilities to address those critical needs."

Study Specifics

The report includes the definition and categorization of required features and the evaluation of each product against those features. On the basis of their experience, DHBA weighted the features for their relative importance to commercial server environments as well as their relative importance to the other features.

The categories reviewed and their relative commercial server weightings included:

o Systems Management 14%

o Storage Management 13%

o Networking 11%

o System Nucleus 11%

o Security 9%

o Application Services  9%

o Development Tools 7%

o User Interface 7%

o User Services 6%

o Application Portability 6%

IBM OS/400 V3.1 leads in 7 of the 11 categories reviewed -- systems management, storage management, operating system nucleus, networking, application services, documentation, and user services. Young, in explaining IBM's OS/400 high standing, said, "An important element of OS/400 V3.1's win is its highly integrated environment. OS/400 V3.1 includes features not generally considered part of an operating system, even though they are mandatory for commercial deployments. These features include a high quality relational database management system, a full suite of systems management tools, networking and PC connectivity. Although some can be incorporated into UNIX competitive environments at added cost, the degree of integration that OS/400 V3.1 provides is nearly impossible for UNIX vendors to achieve, regardless of cost. Integration to this degree, however, can sometimes be a detriment. User organizations often like choices in the products they deploy. UNIX operating systems often provide somewhat greater choice than OS/400." She further stated, "This study evaluated OS/400 as a commercial server operating system. It would have scored somewhat lower in a mixed technical and commercial evaluation, one of UNIX' strengths, where a single operating system is often desired for both client and server."

D.H. Brown Associates Inc.

D.H. Brown Associates Inc., located in Port Chester, is a leading research and consulting firm, concentrating on the strategic analysis, assessment and evaluation of technologies, products and market trends in the "Information Industry." DHBA concentrates on thoroughly understanding and continuously updating its knowledge of the core technologies and trends underlying current and future products. Through highly detailed technical analyses and hands-on evaluations in its computer laboratories, it provides its clients with a high level, balanced perspective supported by the technical depth required for tactical and strategic decisions.

CONTACT: D.H. Brown Associates Inc.

Donald Haback, 914/937-4302, ext. 225