Thanks largely to breakthroughs in its parallel I/O software that harnesses the untapped power of multi-core processors, this achievement places DataCore with an audited SPC-1 Price-Performance™ of $0.08 or 0.05 pence per SPC-1 IOPS™ and as the clear-cut leader in SPC-1 Price-Performance™ overall. DataCore certified its results on a powerful but compact 2U Lenovo System x3650 M5 multi-core server featuring Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3 series processors with a mix of flash SSD and disk storage. On this same platform, DataCore also recorded the fastest response times ever attained, even compared to the many all-flash arrays and multi-million dollar name brand systems that have published SPC-1 results. "With these first certified results, DataCore has put a stake in the ground to demonstrate our parallel I/O performance and hyper-converged capability. For us, this is just the beginning. Look for future benchmarking to incorporate multi-node high availability configurations and to demonstrate I/O originating from both inside and outside the servers - the future for all storage systems,” stated Ziya Aral, Chairman of DataCore Software. “We have only just begun to show the full potential of our inherently parallel I/O architecture."
Hyper-converged System Handles Compute, Parallel I/O Processing and Storage Workloads
Notably, the record-breaking price-performance results were achieved on a hyper-converged solution capable of servicing both enterprise-class storage requirements and demanding database and transaction processing application workloads – all running together on the same platform.
Hyper-converged systems must demonstrate that they can cost-efficiently handle combined enterprise-class storage and application workloads. Unlike SPC-1 results that characterise only external storage systems excluding the servers used to generate the load, DataCore’s $0.08 per SPC-1 IOPS™ result includes the cost to generate the workload and, therefore, encompasses the total cost and end-to-end requirements for running the enterprise application.
“We’d like to see others, like Nutanix and SimpliVity, publish SPC-1 benchmark numbers to reveal how they fare against our record-breaking SPC-1 Price-Performance™ results. Then customers can clearly assess the cost implications of these alternatives,” challenges DataCore’s CEO, George Teixeira. “There’s been much speculation about how these systems perform under I/O-intensive workloads generated by mission-critical enterprise applications. Using the peer-reviewed SPC-1 full disclosure process provides an objective frame of reference for making comparisons prior to any buying decisions.”
The Results: Record-Breaking Price-Performance for both Storage and Hyper-converged
For the benchmark, DataCore used an off-the-shelf, hyper-converged system targeting enterprise-class OLTP and latency-sensitive database applications rated for 459,290.87 SPC-1 IOPS™, with a total cost for hardware, software and three years of support coming in at $38,400.29, making it the top SPC-1 Price-Performance™ result of $0.08 per SPC-1 IOPS™. That is a 300% improvement over the previous record of $0.24 per SPC-1 IOPS™ attained by the Infortrend EonStor DS 3024B and less than 25% of the cost of popular top-of-the-line storage arrays including EMC VNX 8000, NetApp EF560 All Flash Array, Dell Storage SC4020, and HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400.
DataCore and IBM are the only companies to benchmark a hyper-converged system where the SPC-1 applications and storage workloads they generate are both serviced on the same platform. This means that DataCore’s $38,400.29 price includes not only the storage components, but all of the host server resources and the hypervisor software needed to run the enterprise-level database/OLTP workloads generated by the benchmark. For comparison, the only other hyper-converged system with publicly reported SPC-1 results is an IBM Power 780 Server. Their SPC-1 Price-Performance result is $4.56 per SPC-1 IOPS™[7]. That system attained 780,081.02 SPC-1 IOPS™ at a total price of $3,557,709.00, or roughly 91 times more costly than the DataCore solution.
DataCore™ Adaptive Parallel I/O Technology Fully Exploits the Power of Multi-Core CPUs
The remarkable price-performance ratings can be attributed in major part to DataCore’s Adaptive Parallel I/O techniques intrinsic to the design of the SANsymphony™-V Software-Defined Storage Services platform. DataCore executes many independent I/O streams simultaneously across multiple CPU cores, significantly reducing the latency to service and process I/Os by taking full advantage of cost-effective but dense, multi-core servers such as the Lenovo System X machines. Competing products serialise I/O limiting their throughput and slowing their response times.
“Lenovo initially approached us to run the demanding SPC-1 enterprise workload benchmark. They wanted proof we could fully harness the power of their multi-core servers given the abundance of unsubstantiated performance claims circulating in hyper-converged circles,” continued Teixeira. “They soon realized with parallel I/O, we had a rocket ship in our hands.”
“Lenovo is excited to partner with DataCore to disrupt the storage marketplace providing customers the best price and performance in the industry” stated Chris Frey, VP & GM, Lenovo North America. “DataCore's industry-leading SPC-1 results on Lenovo System x demonstrate the performance, innovation and reliability that Lenovo is delivering to meet the growing storage needs to our customers.”
