Oracle claims fastest microprocessor in new SPARC servers

Oracle today rolled out Oracle SPARC T5 and M5 servers, powered by the new T5 and M5 microprocessors. At the launch, it was interesting to see Oracle making claims on the speed and performance of its servers on IBMs. Sandeep Mathur who's managing director of Oracle's India operations was very loud at staking claims on the speed of SPARC T5 which, he boasts, is the world's fastest processor with up to 3x faster application performance. But the new range of servers is an indication of Oracle's continued focus on the hardware business than its arch rival IBM which is planning to do away with its tradition server business and is in talks with Lenovo to sell it.

In India, Oracle will be targeting telecommunications, government, healthcare and financial services industry verticals for these new servers. As per a Gartner report for CY2012, Oracle was the #1 vendor in terms of non-x86 Unix server unit shipments in India.

"Businesses are demanding extreme performance servers that are also cost-effective - and Oracle's new generation of SPARC T5 and M5 servers are exactly that. The new range provides unmatched performance for midrange and high-end enterprise computing compared to any other offering in the market today," said Sandeep Mathur, managing director, Oracle India.

The new Oracle SPARC T5 and M5 servers join Oracle's existing entry-level SPARC T4 servers to complete the Oracle's SPARC portfolio that now, as the company outlines in the press release, extends from entry-level to midrange and high-end. 

 

"We are delighted to announce the India availability of our new generation of SPARC T5/M5 servers, based on world's fastest microprocessor. The new systems offer an unbeatable value for midrange and high-end enterprise computing, said Venkatesh Krishnan, VP, systems business, Oracle India. "With this launch, we want our customers to know that Oracle continues to invest heavily in its SPARC platform and has set itself aggressive targets to consistently deliver innovations that set new standards in performance. Our new servers provide up to 2.3x performance improvement over the previous generation processor."

Oracle said it is adopting a three-pronged go-to-market strategy for the new SPARC range in India. The company will leverage its sales and sales consulting teams to demonstrate price/performance advantage to its existing and new customers. Oracle's large partner base includes systems integrators like TCS, Wipro, HCL and others, value added distributors like Avnet, Redington and tier-2 partners to gain market penetration for the new range. Finally, ISVs who have applications developed on Oracle's Solaris operating system will ask their customers to choose the new SPARC range for clear performance gains.

 

Oracle loudly claims in its press note: "The SPARC T5-8 is the fastest single server for Oracle database. The SPARC T8-5 has a 2.5x price performance advantage over the IBM P780 3‐node cluster when including all hardware and software costs. It beats IBM p-series servers on price and performance on a variety of Oracle applications, including running JD Edwards with a 23x price performance advantage, and running Oracle Siebel CRM with a 7x price performance advantage. The SPARC T5 server also has breakthrough price performance for ERP with a 5x price performance advantage over IBM helping to generate greater user productivity and improve business efficiencies."

The SPARC M5-32 server is designed to run the most critical enterprise applications with less risk associated with application availability, down-time and business continuity. These systems deliver superior value and are up to10x faster than the previous generation, delivering 3x better cost advantage than comparable IBM systems with massive I/O and memory capacity for large, complex workloads and application consolidation.

"Oracle strives to build the best microprocessor, the best servers, the best storage and competes in delivering individual product elements of the technology stack. We also make sure our products work together better. That is why Oracle also announced three new Oracle Optimized Solutions that exploit the performance, reliability and value of SPARC T5 servers, Oracle storage, Oracle Database and Middleware. These new solutions maximize software performance and availability while lowering acquisition cost and operating expenses," Mitesh Agarwal, CTO & Director-Systems Solution Consulting, Oracle India said.