Enterprise-class performance for all through Intel and IBM teamwork Data centre needs are evolving rapidly. As computational power increases and usage models become more complex, high-performancecomputing facilities are no longer the preserve of large organisations. IT departments in a wide variety of industries are now eager to bringthese technologies to their own users in a cost effective way, and are looking to their IT solution providers to help them tailor such resourcesto their environments. Recognising its responsibility - as a leading technology vendor - to meet these requirements, IBM is committed todeveloping efficient, dense solutions for rapidly scaling data centre operations.

CASE STUDY

Intel®Xeon®processors 5500 and 5600 series

Enterprise ServerHigh-Performance ComputingEnergy Efficiency: Environment and Performance Performance: Data Intensive Computing Virtualization: Dynamic Resource Management

Innovation through Collaboration

CHALLENGES

• Data centre growth: Organisations of all sizes now demand enterprise-class performanceat a compelling price

• Stay competitive: IBM was eager to develop a differentiated solution for its customers

SOLUTIONS

• Strategic teamwork. Intel and IBM have a strong track record for working together todrive innovation

• Latest technology. By testing Intel® Xeon® processors 5500 and 5600 series, IBM identifiedsolid benefits to pass on to its customers

• Tailored solution. Proven Intel technology integrated into specially developed IBMiDataPlex dx360 M3* platform

IMPACT

• Movie magic. Prominent Spanish film studio deployed high-performance solution tomeet challenging system demands for its latest production

• Scientific networking. National Grid Computing initiative for scientists built on cost- andspace-effective iDataPlex

• Cloud hosting. Enhanced computational density of platform helps hosted serviceprovider manage more business for less“By incorporating the innovative

Intel® Xeon® processor technology

into our iDataPlex* platform,

we’re offering our customers a

compelling IT mix which will help

them achieve their goals while

staying within budget.”

Fernando García Estevez, Director of the Server System x Division for

Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel, IBM

Collaborating for Customer Benefits

As one of the world’s largest IT companies,IBM is committed to bringing innovation tothe mechanical design of data centres in orderto help customers of all sizes to optimisetheir computing capabilities. As part of thisvision, it has developed the IBM iDataPlexdx360 M3* server product especially fororganisations that require high performancebut are constrained in terms of floor spaceor power and cooling.

“Our customers want the best technologiesto support their mission-critical activities, andthat’s true whatever business they’re in,”explains Fernando García Estevez, Directorof the Server System x Division for Spain,Portugal, Greece and Israel, IBM. “We havea long-standing and fruitful relationshipwith Intel so it made sense for us to includethe latest Intel® processor technologies inthis product.”

IBM carried out detailed research and testinginto how to combine the two technologiesmost effectively. Having evaluated the Intel®Xeon® processor 5500 series, and later theIntel® Xeon® processor 5600 series, it foundthat they could deliver significant benefitsto its customers:

• The Intel Xeon processor 5500 seriesbrought a 2.25x performance gain overthe previous generation and IBM has nowbuilt on this with the Intel Xeon processor5600 series to drive an additional 60 per-cent gain.

• In terms of energy efficiency, the Intel Xeonprocessor 5500 series has reduced powerconsumption by 2.25x as well and cutsystem idle power by 50 percent comparedto previous generations. The new IntelXeon processor 5600 series increasedperformance in the same energy envelopeby 36 percent.

The mix of reduced power consumption andboosted performance demonstrated by thesetests showed IBM that it could help its cus-tomers achieve significant savings in theirserver environments. “It’s numbers like thesethat mean the Intel technology is a perfectfit for our iDataPlex offering,” continues GarcíaEstevez. “The combination of higher perform-ance, memory bandwidth and efficient powerdraw in the processor chip is consistent withthe iDataPlex value of performance per wattdensity to become really compelling for ourcustomers.”

Indeed, IBM has already seen customers ingreatly varying fields – from scientific re-search to movie-making to hosted IT serv-ices – benefit from the flexible solution.

Creative Computing

Kandor Graphics (www.kandorgraphics.com)is a Spanish-based commercial film companythat has seen considerable critical successin recent years, winning prestigious GOYAAwards (www.academiadecine.com) in 2008for its film The Missing Lynx, and again in2010 for The Lady and the Reaper. One ofthe partners of the company is Hollywoodactor Antonio Banderas, meaning it garnersa significant amount of media attentionboth nationally and overseas.

Antonio José Molina, CTO, Kandor Graphics,explains: “In tackling The Lady and TheReaper we encountered serious developmentchallenges that we had not seen with previousfilm projects. Added to this, in order to im-prove the final film quality we had opted fora more demanding stereoscopic design. Thesefactors meant we needed to enhance ourserver resources as well as our wider ITenvironment with the latest and best tech-nology for better performance to completethe project within our deadline.”

Energy efficiency was also a critical factor.The company’s first feature film focused onenvironmental issues and endangered wildlifein the Spanish region of Andalucía, and it hasa strategic commitment to reducing carbonemissions and cutting power usage.

Already a customer of IBM, Kandor Graphicstherefore welcomed the opportunity to testthe new iDataPlex product. “The resultssurprised us greatly,” says Molina, “as wesaw such a leap in performance with thenew processor but without compromisingon power consumption.”

“After evaluating the Intel® Xeon® processors5400 and 5500 series, we found that theIntel Xeon processor 5500 series gave usup to a 30% improvement in the rendering

Energy and cost efficient solution drives success inprojects from research to film-making

“We have a long-standing and

fruitful relationship with Intel so

it made sense for us to include

the latest Intel® processor tech-

nologies in this product.”

Fernando García Estevez, Director of the Server System x Division for

Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel, IBM

System performance more than doubled usingIntel® Xeon® processor 5500 series

Spotlight on IBM

IBM is a leading company in the InformationTechnology industry. With total revenueof $95.8 billion in 2009, the company hasmore than 390,000 employees world-wide, and serves customers in 170countries. In 2009 IBM invested $5.8billion in Research and Development. IBMis aligned around a single, focused businessmodel: innovation. IBM takes its breadthand depth of insight on issues, processesand operations across a variety of indu-stries, and invents and applies technologyto help solve its clients' most intractablebusiness and competitive problems.

process time. We are currently evaluatingthe Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series andpreliminary results indicate that the perform-ance increase will also be substantial.”

The team was also impressed with the reli-ability of the platform, which enable it toensure its servers have high workloads at100 percent utilisation, 365 days a year, 24hours a day. Molina says: “There is no bettertest than daily use. The Lady and The Reaperhas represented a sustained R&D and inno-vation effort for the entire company, witheveryone putting potential new systems tothe test. We also did computation tests withdifferent rendering engines, platforms andtechnologies where we measured energyconsumption from a wide variety of manu-facturers. The iDataPlex platform poweredby Intel Xeon processors 5500 series was,without doubt, a winner.”

He concludes with a thought for KandorGraphics’ future projects: “Working side byside with both Intel and IBM on our newfilm Goleor, The Scales and the Sword givesus the reassurance that we will have a solid,secure foundation on which to build continuedsuccess. With the new technology we willprovide film artists with tools to minimisedevelopment times and enable them to focusmore on creativity instead of waiting for ITto do its job.”

Sharing Scientific Resources

A very different group of iDataPlex users canbe found at the Spanish Superior Council ofScientific Research (CSIC), the governmentbody dedicated to the co-ordination, devel-opment and diffusion of science across thecountry. Its members are located nationwide,in 126 research centres and 145 associatedgroups.

Jesus Marco de Lucas, Member of the Instituteof Physics of Cantabria is also the co-ordinatorof the CSIC’s Distributed Grid ComputingInitiative to boost the computational powerof data centres available to scientists in Spain.“We’re working to develop a network ofcomputing resources for use by researchersin any location,” he explains. “As a governmentdepartment, however, we must be carefulabout how we spend our budget. With somany centres, we needed to identify a serverplatform that was compact, easy-to-deployand economical to run, but that also providedus with the computing power needed by ourusers. They’re carrying out research intocomplex subjects like astrophysics and com-putational chemistry, using highly demandingapplications, so reliability and performanceper node are critical.”

Testing of the IBM iDataPlex platform, pow-ered by Intel Xeon processors 5500 series,against a number of options demonstratedits ability to meet CSIC’s needs. In particular,a trial run was carried out using one of itskey applications called SIESTA* (SpanishInitiative for Electronic Simulations withThousands of Atoms*). Researchers usethis program to perform electronic structurecalculations and molecular dynamics simula-tions of molecules and solids, and they needoptimum system performance to get resultsas fast as possible.

After investigating solutions from a numberof vendors, Marco and his team found thatthe IBM and Intel solution was cost-effectivefor its usage model as well as being an easy-to-use solution. “We’re very happy with theservers,” he concludes. “I’m sure we’ll be callingon the Intel-IBM team to support furtherprojects in the future.”

“That’s a great business equation

for us and means we’re able to

operate much more profitably.”

Alvaro Montero de Lema, Sales Manager, Ran Networks

Power consumption cut by 2.25x, with system idlepower down by 50 per cent

Copyright © 2010 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States andother countries.

This document and the information given are for the convenience of Intel’s customer base and are provided “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. Receipt orpossession of this document does not grant any license to any of the intellectual property described, displayed, or contained herein. Intel products are not intended for use inmedical, life-saving, life-sustaining, critical control, or safety systems, or in nuclear facility applications.

Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured bythose tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Intel may make changes to specifications, product descriptionsand plans at any time, without notice.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 0610/JNW/RLC/XX/PDF 323984-001EN

Servers for Business Success

Elsewhere, one of Spain’s leading hosting companies is also makinguse of IBM iDataPlex with Intel Xeon processor 5500 series. With morethan nine years of experience in the industry, Ran Networks providesa variety of secure hosted IT and cloud computing services.

Its DEF.COM* cloud hosting service for Microsoft Windows* and Linux*environments is built on the Intel-IBM solution. It was chosen for itsability to help Ran Networks reduce its electricity consumption andcooling costs by over 20 per cent, although the primary factor in thedecision was the solution’s strong computational density. Each IBMiDataPlex rack server is able to host 2,000 DEF.COM server instancesvirtually, resulting in a significant cost saving compared to maintainingthis many physical servers.

“The servers have enabled us to host a greater volume data for alower overhead,” comments Alvaro Montero de Lema, Sales Manager,Ran Networks. “That’s a great business equation for us and meanswe’re able to operate much more profitably.”

Find a solution that is right for your organisation. Contact your Intelrepresentative or visit the Reference Room at www.intel.com/references.

Continued Collaboration

García Estevez, IBM, reflects: “We have a long history of jointinnovation with Intel and extending this collaborative relation-ship to high-performance computing challenges through theiDataPlex initiative was a natural fit. Intel’s broad technologyexpertise supports our different design points so that eachproduct we develop together has different capabilities whichcan scale up to the high-performance compute environmentor address low-power customer needs.

“Since teaming with Intel on the design and market introductionof this server innovation, we've seen many of our competitorsvalidate the design point by announcing products with similarform factors and usability. We see this as validation of oursmart choice, which has helped keep our companies at theforefront of IT innovation.”