Blue Martini Powers Up With IBM

Blue Martini Software Inc. announced this week that it experienced a 40 percent increase in performance results during a test run of Blue Martini's 5.5 CRM applications operating on a single IBM eServer p650. The company reported scalability of up to 15,000 concurrent users, with subsecond response times while running on the single p650 eServer. According to Blue Martini, previous tests on the predecessor to the current p-series required an additional server to achieve the same level of scalability. At the current rate a set of five 8-way IBM eServer p650s can support up to 75,000 concurrent users, a dramatic improvement over previous benchmark tests on p-series servers that achieved support for 50,000 concurrent users under a similar configuration, the company says. It also says the test simulated a direct-selling Web site with about 600,000 stock keeping units (SKUs). Realistic user activities and think times were prescripted and executed during the test to simulate a real-world load. Additionally, Blue Martini says it successfully completed interoperability testing with IBM's TotalStorage FAStT500 Storage Server under IBM's TotalStorage Proven program. TotalStorage Proven is designed to address the interoperability issues for customers who are deploying multivendor storage networks. "Our proven scalability and reliability running on IBM technology has not only been tested in the labs, but in real-world deployments. IBM's newest eServer enables Blue Martini applications to achieve optimal performance, giving our joint customers a competitive edge," Chip Overstreet, vice president of marketing, Blue Martini Software, said in statement. Blue Martini this week also announced the appointment of Claire Hough to the position of vice president, product development. Hough previously served as vice president and general manager at a $95 million division of Netscape Communications, where she launched the iPlanet Unified User Management System. Prior to Netscape, Hough held senior engineering management positions at Ingres and Sybase, and most recently, she led the development of the membership service at Napster as senior vice president of engineering. The company says Hough will be responsible for strategic guidance and hands-on leadership for the development teams that create Blue Martini's award-winning CRM solutions for industrial manufacturing and consumer-focused companies.