IBM Unleashes World’s Most Powerful Server (1)

IBM Unleashes World’s Most Powerful Server (1)

IBM, which according to IDC, is the number one vendor of UNIX® systems based on revenue share (2) today introduced a pair of ultra-powerful high-end machines, including the world’s most powerful server (1), the IBM System p5â„¢ 595 – a 64-core speed demon capable of a record-shattering four million transactions per minute at a more affordable cost per transaction than HP’s flagship Integrity Superdome (1). IBM attributed the huge leap in performance over industry competitors to the company’s revolutionary new Dual Stress processor technology, pioneered for ultrafast videogames and making its first appearance in System p5 machines.

Having gained 13 points of UNIX server revenue share in the past 5 years, according to the IDC reports (2) IBM expects the new systems will extend its leadership over competitors. IBM also announced a major advance in virtualization: IBM Tivoli® Usage and Accounting Manager (UAM). UAM allows IT departments and outsourcing vendors to accurately monitor and bill for individual usage of server resources, like utility companies charge for electricity and water.

“The new system is the first to combine immense power and linear scaling with the ability to create virtualized environments that map business functions with IT assets,” said Ross A. Mauri, General Manager, IBM System p. “This is a powerful combination that helps make the concept of the virtualized data center into a reality.”

Owning the number one position in five key benchmarks (3), the new IBM System p5 595 is designed to help companies improve IT operational efficiency while cutting overall infrastructure costs. The bigger of the two IBM servers, the 64-core p5-595 running a single instance of the IBM DB2® 9 data server on the AIX 5Lâ„¢ operating system and using IBM System Storageâ„¢ DS4800, processed 4,016,222 transactions per minute on the TPC-C benchmark – 3.2 times better than the HP Integrity Superdome. The p5-595 offered 38% better price performance than the HP machine – $2.98 per transaction versus $4.82 per transaction. (1) The TPC-C benchmark is an industry standard for measuring the ability of a system to process complex online transactions and large volumes of business data. The TPC-C benchmark is unique in the way it exercises all components of a system, including processors, memory, networking, storage, operating system and database software, demonstrating total system performance in a way that many of the other benchmarks touted by some competitors do not.

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