IDEAS has released an update to the Server Efficiency Trend that shows that long-term server efficiency, defined as server performance per watt, continues to improve, although the growth rate may be slowing.
Figure 1. IDEAS Server Efficiency Trend (Server Performance/Watt)
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IDEAS has released an update to the Server Performance Trend, which predicts that server performance will double from today’s levels during the second half of 2013. The Server Performance Trend is powered by RPE2, the atomic unit of compute, and provides a “whole market” view of how server performance is trending.
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Emulex has announced a new line of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) network adapters called OneConnect Network Xceleration (NX). The technology comes from Myricom, a networking vendor focused on high-performance computing (HPC) and other niche markets. By combining Emulex’s position in the mainstream network interface card (NIC) market with Myricom’s low-latency technologies, the partnership helps build credibility for 10GbE in specialized markets like high-frequency trading (HFT).
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Several IDEAS analysts attended Oracle Industry Analyst World 2012 at its campus in Redwood City, CA a few weeks ago. At this annual event, Oracle provided an update on its strategy to maximize the value that can be gained from integrating its hardware and software assets into complete solutions. The event focused primarily on Oracle’s customer momentum, as well as a review of some hardware and software announcements made since last year’s analyst conference. Oracle took this opportunity to remind analysts that its strategy feels solid and that it does not need to be tweaked on a yearly basis.
The USA 76 America's Cup Class Racing Yacht Used by Oracle Racing
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After more than three years of development, $2 billion of investment, and its acquisition of Blade Network Technologies, IBM has jumped headfirst into the market for preintegrated systems, which has been dominated until now by Cisco, HP, and Oracle. In a recent series of high-profile worldwide announcements, IBM revealed the PureSystems family of systems, which combines processors, storage, networking, and application software within a single, integrated form factor. Rather than labeling its new offerings as "converged systems," which has been the term associated with existing products from competitors, IBM has defined a new product category for PureSystems that it calls "Expert Integrated Systems." IBM describes this new category as providing built-in expertise (that is, embedded best practices for deploying specific workloads); a new design that fundamentally targets delivery of systems in integrated form; and a simplified experience throughout the lifecycle of applications.
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The implicit exchange rate, calculated using the price of Intel processors as sold by HP in different countries, shows surprising deviations from what one might expect. When identical goods are denominated in two different currencies and the economies in which the goods are sold are indistinguishable, the exchange rate, on average, will mean the goods are priced equally. This concept is called purchasing power parity (PPP). For example, The Economist magazine publishes a famous index to illustrate PPP using McDonald's Big Mac. If all economies were the same, the price of a Big Mac in one country's currency divided by the cost of the Big Mac in US dollars (USD) should equal the exchange rate. In reality, it doesn't, because economies are different. Asymco (a popular blog focused on Apple) recently illustrated this point by comparing the prices of numerous Apple products in Finland and Brazil with their prices in the United States. IDEAS has now extended the exchange rate analysis concept to the enterprise tech space by examining Intel processor prices from HP in different countries.
Figure - Percentage Differences in Processor Prices with the United States
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Coincident with the third anniversary of the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) launch, Cisco has announced three refreshed servers, plus new UCS networking and management components. Although UCS still lacks the brand recognition of ProLiant and System x, Cisco has established itself as a top-tier server vendor alongside Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, and Oracle.
IDEAS has followed up its recent release of the first update to the Server Performance Trend with the Server Efficiency Trend, which tracks industry server efficiency over time. The Server Efficiency Trend provides a “whole market” view of server efficiency and is powered by RPE2, the atomic unit of compute. The Server Efficiency Trend’s first update shows that long-term server efficiency, defined as server performance per watt, is doubling about every seven quarters. So, what does this mean in practice, and how does server efficiency growth compare with server performance growth (as measured by the IDEAS Server Performance Trend) during the same period?
( Figure 1. IDEAS Server Efficiency Trend )
Source: Ideas International
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