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IBM advances forward SMP server for OS/2
By Paul Krill

InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:26 AM PT, May 28, 1996


 IBM in June will begin beta testing on OS/2 Warp SMP Server,
which will  greatly enhance performance of Big Blue's LAN operating system.

Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support is considered critical
to enabling OS/2 Warp Server to compete against rivals already
deploying SMP, particularly Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT and Novell Inc.'s
NetWare.

Applications support for OS/2 also will be boosted by the technology,
said an official at one OS/2 Warp Server ISV.

"It's integral to getting applications in the space where they
can run on multiple processors," said Kristin Burkland, director of business
development at Btrieve Technologies Inc., in Austin, Texas.

One analyst who saw an early release running Lotus Development
Corp.'s Notes on a six-processor system described its performance as
"super fast."

"The folks I was with who actually run Notes pretty heavily
were stunned," said Bob Sakakeeny, an analyst with Aberdeen Group
Inc., a consultancy in Boston.

One user running OS/2 Warp at 113 sites said an SMP version may be needed
in the future at his company, although it has no requirement for one at
present.  An SMP server could complement an AS/400 data server
by supporting other business applications, said Terry Duvall,
director of information systems at Furr's Bishop's Inc., a food service
company in Lubbock, Texas.

The SMP version of OS/2 Warp Server will be priced the same
as the current uniprocessor implementation, which costs $629 for an
entry-level server and $1,299 for an advanced configuration supporting
as many as 1,000 users per server.

OS/2 Warp Server currently supports only Intel processors.

An IBM PowerPC version may be developed if there is enough user interest,
IBM officials said.

  IBM can be reached at "http://www.ibm.com/"