1. Benchmark Results: SQL Server 2008 R2 Provides Enterprise-
Class Performance and Scalability for Misys Opics Plus
Running on an NEC Server with Intel Xeon Processors
Solution Brief
As the financial market continues to globalize,
and as the financial industry becomes more
competitive, organizations are looking to increase
their margins through the ability to swiftly and
accurately capture and process complex and
structured trades. Financial organizations face
several challenges: they must support a wide
variety of treasury instruments and handle
increasing trade volumes, and they need a
credible platform.
Misys helps financial organizations respond to
these business challenges with Misys Opics Plus
3.1. Opics Plus is the new .NET Smart Client
release of Misys Opics, the comprehensive
solution for front-to-back office cross-asset
processing of a wide range of financial
instruments. In a single system, Opics Plus
handles vanilla and complex derivatives, fixed
income, and equity and treasury trades. Opics
Plus provides unparalleled integration across
financial instruments and across the different
departments of a financial institution.
Misys is a key Microsoft Capital Markets partner
and a Microsoft Strategic Global ISV in the
financial services industry. Misys and Microsoft
work closely together to build mission-critical
solutions for financial services and capital markets.
With each major release of Opics Plus, Misys
conducts rigorous benchmarking tests with
Microsoft to evaluate scalability and performance.
This technical brief describes the results of
benchmark testing performed June 2011.
Overview of Opics Plus
Misys Opics Plus is a fully integrated core
treasury, capital markets, and derivatives software
solution that processes transactions from deal
capture through settlements and accounting. A
Microsoft Innovator Award–winning solution,
Opics Plus is designed on a single service-
oriented architecture (SOA) platform. Opics Plus
delivers flexible customization features for
business reengineering and fine tuning, along
with high levels of Microsoft-endorsed and client-
benchmarked scalability.
Opics Plus 3.1 has been designed completely on
the Microsoft .NET 3.0 framework. The n-tier
architecture and reengineered server-based
processing gives the system a significant
performance and scalability advantage over
previous versions.
SQL Server 2008 R2 Provides
Performance, Scalability, and Value
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise is a
comprehensive, integrated, and enterprise-ready
data management software solution. It provides a
reliable, cost-effective, low-maintenance database
framework for Opics Plus that can support the
largest and most process-intensive deployments.
Hundreds of enterprises are currently running 10-
terabyte (TB) and larger transactional databases
on SQL Server.1
With SQL Server, Opics Plus customers can save
with reduced licensing, hardware, administration,
and support fees, which translate into
substantially lower costs over the system's life.
Benefits of the Intel Xeon Processor
7500 Series
Designed for large-scale deployments and
mission-critical applications, the Intel Xeon
processor 7500 series delivers outstanding results
for SQL Server and Opics Plus customers,
including scalable performance and advanced
reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS)
benefits that add dramatically to the value of the
overall solution.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Partner Profile: Misys
Misys plc (FTSE: MSY.L) provides
integrated, comprehensive solutions that
deliver significant results to financial
services organizations. Misys maximizes
value for customers by combining a deep
knowledge of their business with a
commitment to their success.
Misys is a market leader in the banking
and treasury and capital markets, with
more than 1,200 customers, including all
of the world’s top 50 banks. Misys
employs around 3,500 people who serve
customers in more than 120 countries.
Misys aspires to be the world’s best
application software and services
company, delivering results for the
financial services industry throughout the
world.
Partner Application: Opics Plus
Misys Opics Plus is a comprehensive
solution for front-to-back office cross-
asset processing of a wide range of
financial instruments. In a single system,
Opics Plus handles vanilla and complex
derivatives, fixed income, and equity and
treasury trades. Opics Plus provides
unparalleled integration across financial
instruments and across the different
departments of a financial institution.
For more information about Misys Opics
Plus, please visit: www.misys.com
MISYS:
EXPERIENCE, SOLUTIONS, RESULTS
1
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/docs/06-30-
09EnterpriseDatabaseManagementSystems.pdf

2. www.misys.com
www.misys.com www.intel.com
Benefits of NEC Express5800/A1080a
Taking advantage of a heritage of world-class NEC supercomputers
and mainframes, the NEC Express5800/1000 series of servers
represents the fifth-generation in the NEC family of highly expandable
mid-range and enterprise server platforms
Benchmark Testing Setup Emulates Real-World Scenarios
As part of their partnership, Misys and Microsoft worked together to
execute benchmarking tests in the Microsoft Enterprise Engineering
Center (EEC) labs in Redmond, Washington. The goal of the testing was
to demonstrate the scalability, performance, and cost efficiency of
using Opics Plus 3.1 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise on the
Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system by replicating the demands
of a tier-1 financial organization. The tests were run on commodity
hardware to simulate a realistic cost of ownership.
Opics Plus performance was measured with two parameters:
responsiveness and scalability. Goals were set based on client feedback
about future performance requirements and on the results of earlier
benchmark testing. These goals represent the typical requirements of
major financial organizations.
Benchmarking Test Scenarios
Tests were conducted to analyze system performance and scalability by
measuring user interface response time and interface throughput using
the messaging service.
• User Interface Simulation
The first part of the benchmarking test was designed to measure the
user interface response time for FX Spot/Fwd deals across multiple
currency pairs.
The user interface simulation tests were performed using Microsoft
Visual Studio 2010 Load Tests. The test scripts were designed to
measure the round-trip duration for each request and were
configured to simulate different sets of users.
• Interface Through the Messaging Service
The second part of the benchmarking test measured the
performance of the FX Spot/Fwd interface performance by
interfacing records into Opics Plus through the messaging service.
Legacy interface tables (INTH, IFXD) were used in the test.
Following are details of the hardware and software used.
Hardware and Software Details
Server Hardware Software
Database server
HP BL680-G5 (2.4 GHz,
24 core, 128 GB RAM)
Windows Server 2008 R2
SQL Server 2008 R2
Web/application
server
NEC5800 (2.3 GHz,
32 core, 262 GB RAM)
Windows Server 2008 R2
File server
HP BL680-G5 (2.6 GHz,
8 core, 8 GB RAM)
Windows Server 2008 R2
Queue server
HP DL580-G5 (2.93 GHz,
16 core, 73 GB RAM)
Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Message
Queuing
The benchmarking tests were performed in a single-application server
environment, as shown in the figure that follows.
Benchmark Testing Setup
Benchmark Results Confirm Performance and Scalability
of the Opics Plus/SQL Server Solution
The benchmark testing results exceeded the test goals, confirming that
Opics Plus on SQL Server and Windows Server is a highly scalable and
responsive system capable of meeting the needs of large financial
organizations, as shown in the following table.
Benchmark Testing Results
Type of Test Benchmark Results Goal Results
User interface
simulation
Response time of an FX
Spot/Fwd deal with STP
<0.25 sec
0.06 sec
(200 users)
Interface
throughput using
the messaging
service
Total FX Spot/Fwd deals
per second
>50
deals/sec
64.49
deals/sec
Summary
The results clearly show that Opics Plus 3.1 running on SQL Server 2008
R2 Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 R2 can handle the demands of
major financial organizations. In addition, Opics Plus customers can
save with reduced licensing, hardware, administration, and support fees,
which translate into substantially lower costs over the life of the system.
More Information
www.microsoft.com