Are storage benchmarks bunk?

Storage in the Enterprise This newsletter is sponsored by Emerson Network Power Powering Change in the Data Center With computing capacity and equipment densities rising simultaneously, data center infrastructure systems have become critical to your ability to manage growth. Emerson Network Power and its Liebert power and cooling technologies can help you create an IT infrastructure that is ready for anything - unplanned outages, unpredictable growth, and unexpected technologies. Network World's Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, 07/19/07 Are storage benchmarks bunk? By Deni Connor The Storage Performance Council (SPC) last week announced benchmark results for IBM’s System Storage SAN Volume Controller, which it reports achieved a ‘world record’ in recent testing. That world record claim is a stretch I’d say, especially when IBM’s SAN Volume Controller is the first and only virtualization platform to be tested with SPC benchmarks. Neither EMC nor Hitachi Data Systems, which have virtualization systems, perform benchmarking of their storage hardware. And DataCore, a company that does do SPC benchmarking, chose to have its SANmelody Disk Server tested instead of a SANsymphony virtualization implementation. Further, the total price of the IBM SVC used in the benchmark tops out at over $3.28 million, a price that includes the SVC engine and $2.56 million for 73GB 15,000 RPM disk drives. That’s a lot more expensive than other systems tested such as 3PAR’s InServ S800 X-Series, which comes in at about $1.4 million. Manage Skyrocketing Storage The data on your network is growing at a rapid pace that's only going to increase. Download Network World's latest Executive Guide and get the practical, real-world advice and insider information you need to best manage and meet your storage demands and industry regulations. Click here to download. The SPC further claims that the tests of IBM’s virtualization platform “validate the scalability of SPC benchmarks when used in large, complex storage configurations to address end user performance requirements.” That’s a hard claim to make when the only other vendors that have used SPC benchmarking in the last year are Fujitsu and Sun, which tested mid-range storage systems and whose configurations cost one-third that of IBM’s SVC. Among the organizations that use SPC benchmarks are 3Par, Datacore, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, LSI, Sun and Texas Memory Systems. The Storage Performance Council's SPC-1 benchmark consists of a single workload designed to demonstrate the performance of a storage subsystem while performing typical functions of business critical applications. The SPC-2 benchmark consists of three distinct workloads designed to demonstrate the performance of a storage configuration during the execution of business critical applications that require large-scale, sequential movement of data. You can review the results here.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Deni Connor is senior editor for Network World magazine covering storage, archiving and compliance, IT in healthcare, Novell and data center-related issues. E-mail Deni.   This newsletter is sponsored by Emerson Network Power Powering Change in the Data Center With computing capacity and equipment densities rising simultaneously, data center infrastructure systems have become critical to your ability to manage growth. Emerson Network Power and its Liebert power and cooling technologies can help you create an IT infrastructure that is ready for anything - unplanned outages, unpredictable growth, and unexpected technologies. ARCHIVE Archive of the Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007