Data General and Oracle to optimize Oracle Universal Server for ccNUMA systems.

WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 1996--

Projects Include Very Large Memory Support for Systems

Based on Intel Pentium Pro Technology

Data General Corporation (NYSE:DGN) announced today that it is undertaking a number of joint development projects with Oracle Corporation to optimize the performance of Oracle Universal Server for systems based on the cache coherent Non-Uniform Memory Access (ccNUMA) architecture. The ccNUMA architecture enables the building of large-scale systems by linking together of standard computer motherboards in a shared memory configuration.

These engineering projects include very large memory support for Pentium Pro microprocessor-based systems, increased localization of processes and memory, and improved memory utilization. In preparation for these joint projects, Data General leveraged its considerable software engineering skills, which established the DG/UX operating system as an industry leader in SMP scalability, to complete a number of programs to ensure that applications and relational databases can efficiently exploit the power of its future ccNUMA-based NUMALiiNE systems. Data General and SCO have entered into a strategic relationship for including Data General's NUMALiiNE technology in the SCO UnixWare system.

"In ccNUMA systems, the operating system becomes key to scalable performance," said Dave Ellenberger, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Data General. "We've successfully completed our work in optimizing DG/UX for the ccNUMA architecture. The AViiON AV 10000 server, our first generation ccNUMA system shipped at the beginning of this year, has demonstrated it over and over at customer sites with highly-demanding production environments."

"Oracle believes that the ccNUMA architecture will be very important in the next generation of large scale systems," said Dr. Thomas Hildebrand, Vice President of the Intel/MIPS Products Division at Oracle Corporation. "With the long tradition that Oracle and Data General have of working together on leading edge technology, such as Oracle Parallel Server, we anticipate that Oracle Universal Server will have outstanding performance on Data General's NUMALiiNE systems."

Current Data General projects with Oracle are designed to ensure that Oracle Universal Server is highly tuned for the ccNUMA architecture. This tuning will also improve the performance of Oracle-based applications on SMP systems. These projects include:

Very Large Memory Support

Applications running on 32-bit systems can use only 4 GB of memory. Data General has overcome this memory limit by using the full 36-bit capabilities of the Pentium Pro microprocessor on its DG/UX operating system. When joint development with Oracle is completed, current applications running on Oracle Universal Server and DG/UX will be able to access up to 64 GB of memory on NUMALiiNE systems. This very large memory support translates into estimated transaction processing performance gains of up to 40 per cent.

Memory Localization and Utilization

To fully realize the scalability advantages of ccNUMA systems, the amount of interconnect traffic for memory accesses needs to be minimized. Data General's DG/UX software already incorporates optimized routines for memory allocation, process scheduling, and process execution (so-called "affinity scheduling" algorithms) which ensure that memory accesses and I/O functions are performed as near as possible to the processor where tasks are being carried out.

Data General has added ccNUMA-specific features to DG/UX that allow applications to control the physical allocation of both processes and memory. Data General and Oracle are now working to take advantage of these features in ways that provide the most efficient execution and result in increased scalability.

In addition, Data General and Oracle engineers, using state-of-the-art tracing and modeling technology, have identified many opportunities to further reduce the amount of interconnect traffic in ccNUMA systems. Resulting work on the organization of shared memory objects, for example, will lead to improved database memory utilization and better performance.

"This work to optimize Oracle Universal Server performance in ccNUMA systems is very valuable for us," commented Ellenberger. "When combined with the processor, memory, and I/O scalability of our NUMALiiNE systems, it will push the envelope for the SMP shared- memory model into the high-end data warehousing and decision support application domain previously only possible with Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) systems."

Data General's NUMALiiNE Technology

NUMALiiNE technology is Data General's implementation of the ccNUMA architecture. It includes the ANSI/IEEE standard Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) interconnect technology and sophisticated operating system features. Using the ccNUMA architecture, Data General is building large-scale systems linking multiple Intel SHV servers that will perform at levels far beyond today's most powerful SMP systems. Each SHV board includes up to four Pentium Pro processors with 512 KB cache per processor, up to 4 GB memory, and dual PCI I/O channels.

SCI, an ANSI/IEEE standard protocol, turns the interconnected SHV servers into a global shared memory virtual computer system and enforces cache coherency to ensure data integrity. Data General and Dolphin Interconnect Systems Inc. are developing jointly the SCI technology.

Data General has been developing NUMALiiNE technology for high-end, enterprise class applications based on its DG/UX implementation of the UNIX operating system. As part of a strategic relationship with SCO, Data General's NUMALiiNE technology is to be included in the SCO UnixWare system, the industry-standard UNIX operating system for Intel processor based enterprise computing.

Data General plans to introduce systems based on NUMALiiNE technology in the first quarter of 1997. These systems, along with subsystems, memory boards and other NUMA-based technology, will be available not only as part of Data General's own AViiON server product line, but also in OEM versions. Data General has announced strategic relationships with Daewoo Telecom Limited, Dansk Data Elektronik, ICL, and Unisys for the resale of its NUMALiiNE technology.

Data General and Oracle Business Alliance Leads to Superior Results

Since 1983, Data General and Oracle have continually enhanced a broad base of complementary products and services for users and applications resellers. Most recently, Data General and Oracle teamed to deliver the Enterprise Solutions Program (ESP), a joint strategic initiative focused on taking risk and complexity out of implementing mission- critical open systems solutions. Through ESP, Data General and Oracle have collaborated on a number of joint engineering projects, including tuning of the Oracle database and Oracle Parallel Server for maximum performance on AViiON SMP servers and CLARiiON disk arrays.

Data General

Data General (NYSE:DGN), based in Westboro, Massachusetts, is a provider of servers, storage systems and related software and services to customers worldwide. The company reported fiscal 1996 revenues of $1.3 billion. Additional information on the company, its products, and services is available on the Internet at http://www.dg.com.

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AViiON is a registered trademark and NUMALiiNE is a trademark of Data General Corporation. SCO, the Santa Cruz Operation, and UnixWare are trademarks or registered trademarks of SCO in the USA and in other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and in other countries, licensed exclusively to X/OPEN Company Limited.

All brands and product names appearing in the press release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Data General, Westboro

Jim Dunlap, 508/898-6546

[e-mail]

or

Carlos Soares, 508/898-6674

[e-mail]