Sun Establishes Benchmark Performance Running i2 Service and Parts Management on SPARC/Solaris Systems Benchmark Demonstrates Strong Performance to Help Supply Chain Planners Deal with Risk and Uncertainty of Demand Over High Inventory Costs ~ Underscores Reasons Why SPARC/Solaris is a Preferred Platform for i2 SPM SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems announced today a benchmark configuration with i2 Technologies, Inc. running i2 Service and Parts Management (SPM) on the Sun Fire(TM) 6800 midframe server. Testing i2 SPM on the bedrock of Sun technology -- the Solaris(TM) Operating System and UltraSPARC(R) architecture -- engineers simulated a time-phased forecast, inventory and replenishment plan for 10.1 million part locations, and generated an end-to-end plan over a 90-day horizon in one hour, 31 minutes, with peak planning throughput recorded at two-point-seven billion part location periods per hour. Today's announcement means a typical service supply chain business, channeling tens of thousands of items (SKUs) to hundreds of locations, can improve forecast accuracy, and optimize inventory required to meet customer demand and service level agreements. i2 Service and Parts Management, a web-based solution, is designed to enable companies to maximize the utilization of parts, budgets and facilities to reach key performance objectives such as high customer service, low operating costs, improved margins and overall market leadership. Leveraging the solution on the Solaris OS can provide high availability and scalability, so businesses can have peace-of-mind knowing the right parts are on hand in the right location at the right time. To accomplish this task, i2 SPM utilizes business logic specific to the service and aftermarket parts industry with a three-tiered workflow: 1) Forecasting -- i2 SPM can forecast demand for spare parts based on historical data, equipment usage and failure rates; 2) Inventory Planning -- i2 SPM can set target inventory levels for service parts based on cost, parts criticality and budgetary constraints; and, 3) Replenishment Planning -- i2 SPM can generate replenishment plans that consider the forecast for repairable and returned parts, as well as the possibility of substituting alternate parts. Several real-world scenarios, ranging from two million to 10 million part locations, were tested running i2 Service and Parts Management v6.0.3 on two Sun Fire 6800 midframe servers with 24 x 1050 MHz CPU power and Sun StorEdge(TM) T3 arrays (with 9 x 72 GB drives per array). The complete planning process (including forecasting, inventory and replenishment planning) was accomplished in one hour, 31 minutes. Significantly, the replenishment planning process was successfully completed within 20 minutes with only 24 CPUs; and helps demonstrate the i2 SPM capabilities for timely solving large scale service parts and retail replenishment planning problems running on the SPARC/Solaris platform. The benchmark was generated in Sun's Newark, Calif., Customer Benchmark Center to emulate typical supply planning needs of the world's largest distribution and parts management centers. Benchmark results can be highly influential as customers weigh price and performance -- along with trust, reliability and ROI -- when selecting mission critical solutions to power their business. About Sun Microsystems Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com/ NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Sun Fire and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. For more information: Terri Brown Sun Microsystems 602-325-9172 DATASOURCE: Sun Microsystems, Inc. CONTACT: Terri Brown of Sun Microsystems, +1-602-325-9172, or Web site: http://sun.com/

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