IBM system triples performance of HP in critical benchmark

Tag : Power Saving System

IBM's POWER6 processor-based Power 595 enterprise server runningthe AIX operating system, with DB2 9.5 data server and DS4800storage, delivered a performance record of 6,085,166 tpmC at$2.81/tpmC.
The performance of the Power 595 enables customers to replace three128 core HP Superdomes (384 cores spanning six computer racks) withtwo 64 core Power 595 servers (128 cores spanning just two computerracks), reducing the number of processor cores by 66 percent,saving 20 percent on energy costs and 55 percent on softwarelicensing purchased by the core, and reducing floor space by 59percent.
Per core performance matters to customers as most major UNIXsoftware vendors charge per core for software licenses. DB2 9.5offers a range of technology advances, including pure XML datamanagement capabilities and row-based data storage compressiontechnology, which yields significant disk, I/O and memory savings.
According to Gartner, "More than 70 percent of the world's Global1000 organisations will have to modify their data centre facilitiessignificantly during the next five years." IBM Power Systemsofferings are a key element in this transformation, deliveringdramatic improvements in virtualization capabilities to helpcustomers consolidate server capacity, save energy and moreeffectively manage their IT costs.
Clients worldwide are leveraging IBM Power Systems to dramaticallyreduce bottom-line operating costs. For instance, the University ofPittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a nearly $7 billion integratedhealth care enterprise and one of the most renowned academicmedical centres in the United States, replaced HP and Sun serverswith IBM Power systems and initiated a server consolidation andvirtualization project designed to curb steadily rising data centrecosts and improve operational efficiencies.
"Our four-year experience with IBM Power Systems has provided uswith unprecedented levels of performance and reliability", statedPaul Sikora, UPMC's vice president of IT transformation."Initially, IDC estimated that UPMC could avoid almost $20 millionin technical infrastructure costs over the first three years of ourproject, but most recently tells us that number has improved to $30million. Our early testing with the POWER6-based IBM Power 595 canonly lead us to believe that we will be even more successful indelivering high performance, low cost computing power that willhelp power the many health care solutions used by our doctors,nurses, clinicians, and patients."
The European Patent Office (EPO), based in The Netherlands, adoptedIBM Power Systems for increased energy efficiencies. The EPOprovides a uniform application procedure for individual inventorsand companies seeking patent protection in up to 38 Europeancountries.
"The energy-saving capabilities of the Power 595 were pivotal inour buying decision", stated Michel Fombellida Lopez, director ofsystem engineering, EPO. "With the new system and PowerVMvirtualization, we'll be able to save on energy costs and reducefloor space."
Kubus IT is the newly founded IT service provider for the AOKBavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, health insurance providers for morethan seven million people in Germany.
"Due to the very good experiences we have had with our two IBMSystem p5 595 servers in terms of reliability and virtualizationcapabilities, we are sure the recently installed two Power 595systems also will provide high-performance capabilities,reliability and cost-efficiency. The flexibility that IBM'svirtualization provides is key to running our SAP applications moreefficiently", stated Andre Rentsch, general manager of kubus IT.
IBM has also achieved significant security certifications that areclosely watched by government agencies and commercial accountsaround the world, often as a bid prerequisite requirement. IBM AIXV6.1 with Workload Partitions and the POWER6 processor-based IBMPower 570 system have been certified compliant under the ControlledAccess Protection Profile under the Common Criteria for InformationSecurity Evaluation (CC), at the Evaluation Assurance Level 4Augmented (commonly referred to as CAPP/EAL4+). Under CommonCriteria, products are evaluated against strict standards thatvalidate the product's design process, development environment,functionality, vulnerability handling, testing and documentation.This is the first set of security certifications for AIX 6 and forsystems based on the POWER6 processor.
The Power 595, which began shipping in May in 32-coreconfigurations with support for AIX, is now available in full64-core configurations and is the high-end server in IBM's PowerSystems family. Support for the i operating environment is plannedfor September with Linux support scheduled for October.
In the second quarter, IBM has been right on target in meetingcustomer availability dates for all Power Systems models, includingthe Power 570 mid-range server, entry-level Power 520 and 550models, the Power 575 water-cooled "Hydro-Cluster" supercomputer,BladeCenter JS12 and i Edition for BladeCenter S.
Initial orders and shipments suggest a dramatic increase in the useof virtualization on the new Power Systems. PowerVM virtualizationorders with the Power 570 are up 40 percent over previousPOWER5-based models and have more than tripled on the new Power 550UNIX system from 20 percent to 70 percent, signifying a majorexpansion in the use of virtualization beyond the enterprise tomid-market clients. The new Power 595 penetration of PowerVMvirtualization is even higher, estimated at more than 90 percent.