IBM X6 Architecture - Why it Matters?
Posted on: 08/05/14
IBM’s System X portfolio is IBM’s offering of Intel (& AMD) based servers and BladeCenters. These serves are offered in a diverse range of tower and rack footprints, starting with lower cost single CPU systems and spanning across the entire Intel CPU spectrum up to multi-CPU designs capable of delivering massive performance.
These systems use either Intel or AMD CPUs and standard memory DIMMS and appropriate I/O adaptors which can make the decision on which server to go for difficult. This is certainly more so on the lower end if the Intel based server market.
So what have IBM done to help them win an increasing share of this market, especially at the higher end of the market where clients and business needs demand Enterprise class computing from industry standard components? Well this is where IBM X-Architecture comes in. Their approach to offer the best and highest performing Intel servers available by adding to the capabilities of the standard components through their proven track record of great innovation.
2001 saw the launch of the first generation Enterprise X Architecture (known as EXA) and this brought to market the firstserver that supported more than an 8-way configuration. 2003 brought the second revision (EXA2) and these systems were the first to achieve 100 benchmarks ranked at #1. Then came 2005 and X3 which introduced higher density, hot-swap memory which was ideal for the emerging virtualisation market. Generation 4 brought the first Intel server to break the 1M tpmC benchmark in 2007 and in 2009 EX5 brought us the markets highest memory density server.
As the name suggests, IBM’s X-Architecture is now in its sixth generation which launched this year and this brings to market some of the biggest advancements and innovations seen in the entire X-Architecture history.
To quote the IBM blurb on the launch of X6 architecture which is marketed as being fast, agile and resilient they say:
“The IBM X6 product portfolio represents the sixth generation of servers that are built upon Enterprise X-Architecture. Enterprise X-Architecture is the culmination of generations of IBM technology and innovation that is derived from the experience in high-end enterprise servers. Now, with the X6 servers, IBM scalable systems can be expanded on demand and configured by using a building block approach that optimizes system design for your workload requirements. These servers scale to more processor cores, memory, and I/O than previous systems, enabling them to handle greater workloads than the systems that they supersede. Power efficiency and server density are optimised, making them affordable to own and operate.”
This new technology allows for a single x3850 X6 server to provide 60 physical cores (120 logical processors) and 6TB’s of memory in a 4U footprint or double those specifications in an 8U x3950 X6 server.
To aid its agility with deployment, its modular design is built around the concepts of “books” which are ‘block like’ modules and are available as compute books (CPU and memory), I/O books (PCI card support) and storage books (flash or spindle based storage and associated adapters) which slot in bays at the front or rear of the system.
But the ace of the pack is the support for IBM eXFlash DIMMs which allow storage to be installed in the regular DIMM sockets offering massive performance boosts and latency reductions over conventional SSD based flash storage technology. This approach allows the data transfer to happen directly between the CPU and storage, bypassing the need for PCI or SAS based controllers.
So what does this mean for your business? Well anyone looking to not only virtualise but also massively consolidate the number of required hosts would benefit from the huge memory density and high CPU resource availability.
Databases and transaction based processes can run on the eXFlash DIMMs which could not only negate the need for an external NAS or SAN based storage, but also offer extremely low latency / quick response times which will meet the highest storage and computational demands. The highly resilient and robust nature of the X-Architecture will allow you to confidently deploy your Cloud based services knowing that the supporting hardware is designed to meet the heaviest workloads. Let IBM X6 architecture give your infrastructure the edge over other offerings and you the best chance to achieve your I.T. and business goals.
Ed Yates. Technical Consultant, Celerity Limited
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