New WAP System Uses Samsung Electronics Server with Four Itanium Processors
Wonkwang University has attracted industry attention by using Samsung Electronics*' new Itanium®-based servers to implement the first Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Gateway in Korea.

Completed in September, 2000, the project was conducted by installing and running applications in actual sites after thorough testing centered on the hardware itself. Because it is the first Itanium-based WAP system pilot in Korea, it is expected to significantly influence the decision-making of companies that are considering deploying Itanium-based solutions.The project is also important because it offers the first example in Korea of a college implementing a WAP system in preparation for the anticipated opening of the wireless Internet network.

Samsung Electronics, the hardware provider for this project, succeeded in building the first Itanium-based solution in Korea because it worked closely with Intel during system development.

First in Korea to Build Itanium-based WAP Systems
Wonkwang University, located in Iksan, Chollabuk-Do, was founded in 1953 from the merger of Yuil Haklim, founded in 1946, and Wonkwang Elementary College, founded in 1951. With about 20,000 students, it is one of Korea's largest provincial colleges. Wonkwang University has three major areas of specializationEthics and Culture, Life Science, and Information and Telecommunicationand has been expanding all three areas.

Wonkwang University's Information and Telecommunication area is a leading academic center as well as a forward-thinking one. Ranked fifth in a nationwide review of colleges, this area has developed an advanced system that it uses to conduct remote education and Internet broadcasting. The Information and Telecommunication area also focuses on expanding Korea's pool of experts in information and telecommunications, and has opened the first Information and e-Commerce department in Korea.

The university decided to implement a WAP system because it expects the age of the wireless Internet will materialize as soon as the government and telecommunications industry considers opening complete wireless Internet networking. The opening of wireless Internet networks will enable wireless network providers to identify and manage the consumer's connection and usage without having to negotiate with wireless service providers. Wonkwang University expects this shift will result in more varied and useful information being provided through wireless Internet access and will also raise the demand for employees with expertise in wireless Internet-related activities.

Accordingly, Wonkwang University implemented wireless Internet service inside its campus to meet the industry's demands for technology development and to train professionals with the necessary expertise. The WAP system will also enable the university to communicate more efficiently with staff and students.

Processor Designed for Internet-based Systems
Wonkwang University's WAP Gateway is based on the Linux operating system and implemented on a four-way Itanium-based server running at 733 MHz with 2 MB cache. The college decided to implement an Itanium-based solution because the Itanium processor is designed specifically for powering Internet applications. They chose to work with Samsung Electronics, which had already provided systems achieving 99.999% for the financial sector. They developed the WAP system with Syswill, a leader in voice-data integration solutions, as a joint project between industry and academia.

"We judged that the Intel Itanium-based processor is a true 64-bit processor with superior real-time multitasking performance, rich multimedia processing capabilities, and appropriate for object-oriented environments," said Professor Han, who is in charge of the WAP system implementation. "In addition, since we expect the Intel Itanium architecture to become a future standard, we wanted students to become familiar with it and graduate students to be able to use it for advanced research tasks."

In performance tests, the Itanium architecture proved itself to be well suited to the rigorous demands of the WAP system. For example, Syswill's WAP system, WINE, performs user session management in memory, offering dramatic increases in performance on the Itanium architecture. In a WINE environment with high memory access requirements, the Itanium processor's EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing) technology can achieve superior parallel capabilities and significantly reduce memory latency.

For 4,000 concurrent users, the Itanium-based system recorded 960 Kbhsm for message processing and 3,500 times per second for creating subscriber information. In contrast, another RISC system recorded 680 Kbhsm and 2,200 times. In addition, the Itanium-based system handled service calls in five msec, compared to an average of six msec for the other RISC systems tested (Source: Syswill).*

The Itanium architecture is regarded as the most important innovation among the Intel architecture since the development of the 80386 processor. The new architecture provides scalability, high availability, high performance, investment protection, and freedom of choice for high-end servers and workstations. The Itanium processor is also the first product in Intel's Itanium processor family, introducing higher levels of instruction parallelism than previous processors. The new architecture is based on EPIC engineering technology and delivers higher performance for target applications. Current systems with the Itanium processor running at 733 MHz or 800 MHz with 2 MB or 4 MB of Level 3 cache provide six 10-phase pipelines. This minimizes the overall memory latency time through the use of three levels of cache memory and provides a data transfer rate of 12 GB/s.

Eight Times the Performance of Sun* UltraSPARC* System in 1024-bit RSA Decryption
Itanium-based systems demonstrate outstanding performance in reducing the server's response time on secure transactions while also reducing processing overhead. For example, in measuring security performance analysis of 1024-bit RSA decryption, Itanium-based systems recorded 1,289 Decrypts/sec. This exceeded the original goal and provided up to eight times the performance of a Sun* UltraSPARC* III, which recorded 160 (Source: Intel).*

"When we decided to implement the Itanium-based WINE system, we were already familiar with the processor's superior performance and speed, but we were concerned because this was the first deployment of the new processor," said Professor Han. "However, the worry was completely removed as the system proved to offer the excellent performance, speed, and reliability we expected."

Syswill's WAP Gateway was developed for large-scale systems targeting financial and enterprise markets in preparation for the opening of the telecommunication network market. It is especially well suited for developing WTLS, a security module for WAP Gateway, using WPKI, targeting companies in the financial sector who are creating mobile banking solutions. Syswill's WAP Gateway also provides Push Proxy Gateway (PPG) and WAP Proxy Server functionality, enabling push service for large-sized enterprise markets.

Because Syswill's WAP Gateway includes a security module, PPG, and a WAP proxy gateway, it provides the benefits of easy system development. As a result, Wonkwang University expects students will be able to develop new services easily.

"Because all the deployment and execution environments were based on the Web, it was designed to simplify the use of a complicated system," said Professor Han. "The conversion module for supporting the security module and the documentation were impressive."

The WAP equipment with the Intel Itanium processor delivers a competitive edge by reducing the cost per transaction. As WAP becomes widespread, and the new processor is expected to become popular as a high performance platform for wireless Internet applications, delivering high availability and reliability.

A Flexible System for Mobile School Administration and Internet Service Development
Wonkwang University will use its new Itanium-based server for a variety of purposes. The university will offer students access to the system for developing wired and wireless Internet services. The system will also serve as the test-bed for mobile school administration, a pilot communication system between professors and students, and a platform for developing new wireless Internet services. In the future, the college plans to use the system for real-time multimedia streaming system development.

Wonkwang University was recently selected as the facility support project for human resources training of the Korean Ministry of Information and Telecommunication. As part of this project, Wonkwang University plans to accelerate the training of personnel with advanced skills in information and telecommunication. To do so, it will add wireless information telecommunication facilities like the WAP Gateway and multimedia practice facility.

The university was also selected for the Voice Information Industry Support Center from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. To support this work, the university is developing new research programs for voice information communication as well as programs to train information communication professionals and facilitate industry-academy cooperation relating to the BK-21 project.

Accordingly, Wonkwang University plans to accelerate its investments in information communication and information security, combining wired and wireless Internet and taking advantage of the first Itanium based campus WAP Gateway in Korea.

* Performance disclaimer
Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, reference www.Intel.com/procs/perf/limits.htm or call (U.S.) 1-800-628- 8686 or 1-916-356-3104.