New results rank Microsoft SQL Server 2008 No. 1 for price/performance, offering customers the lowest total cost of ownership for an enterprise-class database.

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- New TPC-E performance benchmark results from the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC)(1) rank Microsoft SQL Server 2008 No. 1 for price/performance(2) on industry-leading hardware using Intel Corporation's new Dunnington x64 processor, and on another TPC-E release, SQL Server 2008 is No. 1 for performance(3) using the new IBM System x3950 M2 server. In China, OEM partner Inspur Group published the first Microsoft SQL Server TPC-E results in non-U.S. dollar currency.(4) These results show further evidence that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 remains a global value leader in the data platform space and is a top choice of customers who require high performance from their enterprise-class data management systems.

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'SQL Server is the only data management and business intelligence platform to be proven capable of delivering scalable results on TPC-E, the industry's newest and most challenging online transaction processing benchmark,' said Fausto Ibarra, director of product management for SQL Server at Microsoft Corp. 'These benchmark results show the type of performance benefits Microsoft customers can expect when they team the enhancements of SQL Server 2008 with the hardware advancements from industry partners.'

With more than 18 TPC-E benchmarks to date, including seven new benchmark results since the release to manufacture of SQL Server 2008 in August, Microsoft is at the forefront of establishing the new standards for online transaction processing (OLTP) performance. TPC-E is the most modern and rigorous benchmark for measuring real-world transaction processing. In addition to leading price/performance results with hardware partners Dell Inc., Fujitsu Siemens Computers and IBM using the new Intel Dunnington central processing unit, Microsoft also published results using other industry processors including Intel Itanium and the four-socket Tigerton Xeon.

Microsoft is setting additional benchmark records with independent software vendor (ISV) solutions, including a world record on four-socket industry-standard blade servers in three-tier SAP AG Sales and Distribution Standard Application benchmark(5) and the largest benchmarks ever on Siemens Teamcenter digital product life cycle management solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics AX and Camstar Inc.