IBM/Lenovo System X6 – Huge Memory Extensions In x86 Servers

System X6 Highlights

• Announces x3850 X6, x3950 X6 and Flex System x880 X6 servers
• DRAM memory scales to 12TB in the largest 8-way system
• Modular design point that can allow customers to reduce acquisition cost by up to 28% by selecting only the parts they really need
• Adds eXFlash memory channel storage giving up to 12.8TB of ultra-low latency storage on a 4-way system
• Adds resiliency features for huge memories and increased system availability
• Adds 7 X6 solution editions, including those for HANA, DB2 BLU and Microsoft SQL
• Stands to gain share as the x86 server market turns to scale-up and in-memory databases in 2014

So IBM announced its intention to sell its x86 server business to Lenovo on January 23rd, following lengthy negotiations over many quarters. We published this on the 22nd, which details IBM’s X6 announcement from the previous week. You might be interested in finding out what Lenovo’s getting…
All server vendors are getting ready to launch new systems built on Intel’s Ivy Bridge-EX Xeon E7 V2 processors, which will be unveiled in the next couple of months. Back in March 2012 we reviewed all of the Xeon E5 2600  introductions we could – but not HP, which didn’t launch till May. This time IBM is even stealing a March on Intel – announcing 3 new X6 products before the processor itself is announced. Since non-disclosure agreements prevent the chip discussion, IBM System x team under Adalio Sanchez is drawing attention to IBM’s system features – a very smart move.

Think High-End, In-Memory, Scale-Up

The most successful server marketing campaign of the last couple of years has been SAP HANA: it’s changed the agenda in the x86 market, making us focus on scale-up architectures and in-memory databases. SAP will only allow HANA to run on certified Xeon E7-based servers and so there’ll be a lot of activity from SAP’s OEMs as Intel refreshes.
IBM is the most successful server vendor in scale-up servers – and not only with its System z mainframe and Power server businesses. It is the leading vendor of SAP HANA servers, gaining a 60% share from its 2k shipments since introduction and demonstrating the largest system PoC. System x
is a highly integrated design with a focus on larger processor and core counts. In addition 10k installations of PureSystems makes it one of the leaders in the CIandIS market, especially in the higher layers. Its new X6 machines will help it continue the strategy.

What’s in the X6 Family?

There are 3 new systems in IBM’s X6 product line up (see figure). In particular:

• x3850 X6 – a 4U rack-mount server with a new modular design point based on 3 key ‘books’
  • The storage book supports up to 9.6TB of SAS/STA or 6.4TB of eXFlash 1.8” SSDs
  • Each compute book (up to 4) supports up to 1.2TB of memory or 3.2TB of eXFlash memory-channel storage
  • Each I/O book (up to 3) delivers up to 3 PCIe slots giving the server 11 PCIe slots – doubling the number over previous generation servers
• x3950 X6 – an 8-socket, monolithic 8U rack server with a single directly connected processor to processor midplane giving the highest scalable 8-way performance; all capacities are doubled, and the server delivers a single point of control and single serial number tracking useful for asset management
• Flex System x880 X6 – a 2U 2-socket compute node designed for the PureFlex line; it has 48 memory slots for up to 3TB of DRAM per compute node and up to 8 eXFlash 1.8” SSDs disc enclosures (a 4-way configuration has a 12.8TB maximum eXFlash capacity); it also features seamless scalability to an 8-way through scalability connectors

In addition IBM has refreshed some of its other servers, launching the 3650 M4 BD, which allows for up to 14 3.5” (<56TB) disk drives and Flex x240 node (both based on the Xeon E5-2600 V2 processor) and enhancing the 3630 M4 and 3530 M4.

Here Comes Memory-Channel Storage

Over the last couple of months other vendors have been talking about adding flash storage close to the server memory to accelerate application performance (Dell’s Fluid Cache For SAN and HP FlashSAN for instance). IBM added memory extensions to its x86 servers 13 years ago as part of its X Architecture, helping it to play a strong role in the development of server virtualisation with VMware, KVM and others.
This time it’s adding eXFlash memory’s channel storage (based on SanDisk technology) to the X6 line – a flash module that plugs into the memory socket, giving the processor a directly connected ultra-low latency cache and running 5 times faster than PCIe based flash. Initial capacities will be 200GB and 400GB. Memory channel storage is much cheaper than DRAM, addressable as SATA storage and much faster. While other server vendors will launch similar products in 2014, IBM is differentiate through offering WriteNow and RAID 1 protection – critical for running large workloads on high-end x86 servers.
Of course IBM has many other technologies to enhance its new server lines – including the new FlashSystem 840 all-flash array announced at the same time. We expect it will continue to innovate in the areas of memory extension and RAS.

Workload-Optimised Solutions

IBM is more advanced than all other server vendors when it comes to addressing specific workloads and solutions. It has announced the following IBM System x Solutions for X6 including ‘for’:

1. DB2 with BLU Acceleration
2. Microsoft Hyper-V
3. Microsoft SQL Data Warehouse
4. Reliability Solution for Stratus everRun Enterprise
5. SAP Business Suite
6. SAP HANA
7. VMWare vCloud Suite

Of these the DB2, SQL and HANA solutions specifically address in-memory systems, while the Stratus offering is interesting in adding its long-time fault-tolerance expertise to KVM-based virtualised environments.

Some Conclusions – IBM Plays To Its Strengths

Intel’s Xeon E7 is its most powerful chip and as such will be used in scale up and integrated systems requiring the highest performance. We do not expect there to be as much fuss about product announcements as there were with the E5 back in 2012. Nevertheless IBM has stolen a march on its rivals by announcing new systems before the new chips themselves, which allows its users and prospects time to consider its many system-level enhancements.
The modular design of the x3850 X6 including the concept of storage, I/O and compute ‘books’ as well as the ability to combine 2 together to make an 8 processor x3950 X6 demonstrate a smart design approach from IBM and this new chassis design should last many years as the basis of SAP HANA, DB2 BLU and Microsoft SQL in-memory systems. The Flex System x880 X6 will no doubt form a similar role within the PureSystems family, although we’ll have to wait until the end of January for the details.
IBM’s focus in the x86 server market (as in its mainframe and Unix businesses) has been on large integrated systems, where it is the market leader. However these have not grown as rapidly as the low-priced blade and tower systems over the last few years. We believe that 2014 will see much more emphasis on in-memory and CIandIS servers.
IBM has already made a strong play in the SAP HANA market, becoming the leading vendor. Its understanding of memory extensions – through its own FlashSystem, storage offerings and partnerships – give it a head-start in the high-end markets all of the other x86 server vendors will need to address this year.
We’ll be covering developments closely over coming months of course, including the implication of the proposed sale of this whole business and its 7k employees to Lenovo.
Further reading – see our sizing of the server market in Q3 2013