The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) has reprimanded and fined Oracle for publishing unsubstantiated benchmark results. The violation occurred when Oracle ran an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal and The Economist claiming that ‘Sun + Oracle is Faster’ compared to a published TPC-C performance result from IBM.
“Oracle’s claim that it is faster than IBM using a TPC-C benchmark result it claimed would be announced on October 14, 2009 was not supported because Oracle did not have a TPC result at the time of publication,” the TPC explained in an official statement. “The TPC requires that claims based on TPC benchmarks must be demonstrable using publicly available data from official TPC benchmark results.”
TPC spokesperson Michael Majdalany told TG Daily that Oracle has been directed to cease publication of the advertisement in print and online.
“Oracle, as a member of the TPC, is obligated to follow TPC policies. The company has already responded by removing all web links that were in violation. In addition, Oracle has been asked to report back to TPC and outline what steps they have taken to ensure that such an incident isn’t repeated,” said Majdalany.
“Although such violations do not occur all that frequently, it is certainly not unusual for a company or PR agency to be unaware of TPC rules. Usually, someone will notice and attempt to inform a member of the problem – providing the company with a chance to correct the offending material. If an actual complaint is filed, the TPC will carry out due diligence to determine if a violation occured and what the subsequent consequences should be.”
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