Sun Establishes Benchmark Performance Running i2 Service and Parts Management on SPARC/Solaris Systems

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, [phone], or





Web site:  http://sun.com/

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