A series of tests conducted in April at the Neal Nelson & Associates benchmarking laboratory measured a sustained data rate of 6.5 gigabits per second from a single 2U form factor server powered by AMD Opteron(tm) processors. One endurance test ran continuously for 48 hours and transferred over 1,000 terabits (1 petabit) of user data between 96 FTP client machines and the single FTP server. These data rates were achieved with the common IPV4 protocol and standard 1,500 byte packets.

"AMD64 technology combined with quality components from other vendors, like Tyan, results in servers with incredible price-performance," said Pat Patla, Director, Server/Workstation Marketing, Microprocessor Business Unit, Microprocessor Solutions Sector, AMD (NYSE: AMD). "This particular server set-up demonstrates that the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture is well-suited for demanding datacenter environments."

The server was assembled entirely from stock components. Four AMD Opteron processors Model 850 were installed in a Tyan Transport TX46 chassis, and the system was configured with Novell's (NASDAQ: NOVL) SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2 operating system. System integration and system tuning were provided by the Neal Nelson & Associates staff.

"Tyan's Transport server systems are built to provide performance and power for a wide range of applications in many different industries," stated Danny Hsu, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Tyan Computer Corporation. "Neal Nelson & Associates has pushed the performance envelope forward through what is both an incredible feat of engineering prowess, and another great example of how Tyan products enable our customers to gain technology leadership."

The 6.5 gigabit data rate was measured as 96 client computers of Neal Nelson's Multi-Node Test Bed performed FTP "Gets" and "Puts" of multi-megabyte files. The client traffic was evenly spread over six separate gigabit ports in the server machine.

Nelson's Multi-Node Test Bed allows the use of user application programs to stress both networks and servers in ways that exactly duplicate real-world operating conditions.

"In our lab we run tests where application programs perform specific tasks in a carefully controlled fashion," said Neal Nelson, who supervised the test. "This allows us to isolate performance factors and optimize a machine configuration to get the absolute highest performance from a given platform."

"Never before has a single 2U chassis run real application programs like FTP at sustained data rates that are this high," continued Nelson. "When this is viewed in the context of continuous operation for 48 hours and a total of 1 petabit of data transferred this is truly a record-setting accomplishment."

A white paper has been prepared that more fully describes the test sequence and its findings. A copy of the white paper can be obtained by sending an email request to LanTest@nna.com

Neal Nelson & Associates operates a benchmarking laboratory in the Chicago area. This lab is available to commercial and government users for independent tests. For further information, call (847) 851-8900 or email office@nna.com

For more information and details about Tyan or Tyan products, please visit Tyan's website at http://www.tyan.com