Fujitsu refreshes x86 server portfolio

Fujitsu is removing performance bottlenecks that hold back today’s applications by adding breakthrough non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) technology to its new-generation PRIMERGY and PRIMEQUEST servers based on Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Support for Intel® Optane™ DC persistent memory delivers turbo-charged data processing, enabling applications to derive insights from data much faster, even when dealing with massive amounts of information.

 

The new PRIMERGY and PRIMEQUEST servers benefit from Fujitsu’s pioneering work in the NEXTGenIO project which forms part of EU Horizon 2020, the European Union’s biggest ever research and innovation program. Fujitsu took the lead in using Intel® Optane™ DC persistent memory to reduce bottlenecks caused by the relatively slow speeds of reading and writing data from memory – known as input/output or I/O speed – in comparison to the speeds of processing capabilities. The success of this EU project made it possible for Fujitsu to introduce these unprecedented I/O capabilities to industry standard x86 PRIMERGY and PRIMEQUEST servers.

 

Now Fujitsu has released its new M5 generation of PRIMERGY as well as new PRIMEQUEST servers which incorporate performance-enhancing new NVRAM persistent memory. This brings data much closer to processors, therefore reducing internal data transfer times between processing and storage. Cutting system latency times accelerates the performance of critical data workloads, from cloud services to on-premise databases.

 

These performance upgrades are reflected by newly-published results of independent benchmark measurements. The PRIMERGY RX2540 M5 server breaks two records in the VMware VMmark test, which measures the performance, scalability and power consumption of virtualisation platforms at the same time. In addition, the PRIMERGY RX4770 M5 system achieved outstanding results running the SAP Business Warehouse, edition for SAP HANA® Standard Application Benchmark Version 3 with a total of 9.1 billion initial records. In the benchmark, the new Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory modules were used within the RX4770 M5. While delivering outstanding performance, with DCPMM, this also enables customers to triple memory capacity and drastically reduce restart times of their databases. This impressively demonstrates the new possibilities for in-memory databases and new configurations between memory and storage with DCPMM modules.

 

Moreover, both the PRIMERGY RX4770 M5 and PRIMERGY RX2540 M5 set further records on SPECjbb2015, which evaluates the performance and scalability of systems running Java business application environments.

 

Further system upgrades enable the new PRIMERGY M5 generation and the second generation PRIMEQUEST 3000 series server models to support more simultaneous users and more virtual machines per system. Consequently, businesses can rapidly scale the applications they deliver on virtual infrastructures – providing more services to more customers, while also improving quality of service.

 

Olivier Delachapelle, Head of Category Management at Fujitsu EMEIA, said: “Enterprises used to view the need to manage and store vast data lakes as an inconvenience, but now their huge potential is being recognised – it just needs to be unlocked. With breakthrough technology that brings these huge data sets closer to server processors, we can turbo-charge the time to insight, ensuring that our customers can derive more value than ever from their accumulated data. This leap in capability also opens the door for innovative new application development.

 

PRIMERGY and PRIMEQUEST servers are also supported by Fujitsu’s Software Infrastructure Manager (ISM) which gives organisations control and visibility over their entire data centre, from servers, storage, networking and cloud management software to power and cooling using a single intuitive user interface. With the new generation of the system, a free-of-charge version, ISM Essential⁵, is now available. ISM Essential provides converged infrastructure monitoring as well as essential server management functions.