Learn about HRG Assessment: Comparing IBM PureSystems and Cisco UCS

1. HRG Assessment:
Comparing IBM PureSystems and Cisco UCS
Today customers and employees have increasingly more bi-directional interactions with companies than at any
previous time and all of these transactions have to be served up and supported by Information Technology.
Business applications and services have to be developed and assimilated into the business quicker, faster, and
without room for mistakes.
CXOs and IT professionals are struggling to reconcile the increased complexity of business environments with an
increase in both the complexity and cost of operations. The available IT budget is increasingly consumed not by
hardware costs but by management, administration, and other indirect non-technology costs.
The current business environment is dynamic, highly competitive, increasingly fast paced, and global. Consumers
of Information Technology products and services have higher expectations than ever before, placing increasing
demands on business IT capabilities which are measured on the ability to quickly deliver new and improved
services. Large-scale projects cost millions, take months to plan and execute with no guarantee of success. Time,
budget, skilled resources, organizational experience and expertise are critical constraints. Customers are
increasingly turning to Integrated Systems to help tackle these challenges.
Several years ago Cisco brought their UCS 5108 Bladed Chassis based offering to market.
On April 11, 2012 IBM introduced a family of Expert Integrated Systems called IBM PureSystems. This is a
unique solution that combines IBM’s significant software, hardware, networking, security, and management
experience, expertise, and capabilities into a single easy to order and implement solution. IBM PureSystems are
architected and designed to help customers keep pace with unscheduled and unanticipated increases in demand by
simplifying the selection, purchase, installation, configuration, and implementation of IT solutions for business.
IBM PureSystems customers should expect to benefit from improved ROI and faster time to revenue.
IBM and Cisco each claim their particular solution uniquely meets today’s challenges. However, there are
important differences between the two solutions and only one clear winner.
 How will business and IT professionals keep pace?
 Is IBM PureSystems or Cisco UCS the right solution the meet these challenges?
In this paper, we provide an overview of IBM PureSystems and Cisco UCS and examine some of the major
differences between these solutions.
This document was developed with IBM funding. Although the document may utilize publicly
available material from various vendors, including IBM, it does not necessarily reflect the positions
of such vendors on the issues addressed in this document.
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2. Harvard Research Group, Inc.
IBM PureSystems
IBM PureSystems are assembled, integrated, and configured before they are shipped to the customer. This
integration includes servers, storage, networking, management, security, operating systems, and workload specific
infrastructure patterns.
IBM PureSystems let customers stay focused on business and on serving customers. Computers, networks, storage,
and software are tools to be used to facilitate the business by creating efficiencies, expediting, and accelerating
sensible business growth, return on assets and cash flow. Anything that makes the selection, purchase, installation
and configuration of IT platforms simpler, faster, and more trouble free is good for business.
IBM PureSystems have at their core the following 3 customer focused design precepts:
Built-in expertise defined as “Capturing and automating what experts do – from the infrastructure to the
application – to make IT easy to deploy and manage.”
Integration by design defined as “Deeply integrating and tuning hardware and software in a ready-to-go,
workload-optimized system.”
Simplified experience defined as “Making every part of the IT lifecycle easier with integrated
management of the entire system and a broad open ecosystem of optimized solutions”
IBM PureSystems are fully integrated by design and tuned by IBM labs and factories. IBM PureSystems are
assembled, integrated, and configured at IBM’s manufacturing and assembly facilities and delivered as a single
tightly integrated unit in a shippable rack ready for rapid installation and production level use at the customer site.
IBM PureSystems offer “scale-in” architecture by building on faster, denser components such as POWER7’s faster
and denser architecture and the latest generation Intel processors combined with integrated virtualization
management and a unique networking design.
IBM PureFlex System
The IBM PureFlex System is an expert integrated system that combines servers, storage, networking, virtualization,
security, and management enabling organizations to rapidly deploy and manage virtualized hardware resources and
workloads. These systems deliver the simplicity of an integrated solution to customers who also need to be able to
tune and control middleware and run-time environments.
IBM PureFlex System recommends workload placement based on virtual machine compatibility and resource
availability. Using built-in virtualization across servers, storage and networking, the infrastructure system enables
automated scaling of resources and workload mobility. The IBM PureFlex System is an infrastructure system with
expertise for sensing and anticipating resource needs in order to optimize the virtualized infrastructure. IBM
PureFlex System is available in Express, Standard, and Enterprise configurations.
IBM Flex System Manager
IBM Flex System Manager (FSM) is a systems management appliance compute node that configures, monitors, and
manages IBM PureFlex System resources. IBM Flex System Manager (FSM) provides a real-time single pane of
glass GUI for managing all chassis components. The chassis maps which comprise the FSM top level GUI show
front and rear views of the IBM Flex System chassis and installed components. By mousing and hovering over a
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component information on that component is displayed in a pop up window and by selecting and clicking on a
component the administrator can drill down to manage the system at a granular level providing control of resource
pools in support of workload related QOS and SLA requirements and policies. Furthermore, this graphical view of
the chassis also provides a series of management overlays which show system policies related to SLA compliance.
Additionally, FSM provides easy to understand representations of system and individual component status as an
overlay on the chassis map. FSM is used to optimize the physical and virtual resources of the IBM PureFlex
System infrastructure while simplifying and automating repetitive tasks.
IBM PureSystem Centre
Through IBM PureSystems Centre, a portal to the PureSystems partner ecosystem, IBM enables ISVs and Business
Partners to package and sell solutions (www.ibm.com/puresystems/centre). This catalogue of software from IBM
and partners allows customers to select, download, and deploy new software functionality - tailored through the use
of deployment patterns - to deliver reduced set up and implementation time. ISVs can sell their applications or
patterns through the IBM PureSystems Centre. IBM offers warm transfer for certified 'Ready for PureSystems'
applications. IBM also promotes the creation of further ISV patterns with a development toolkit, along with a trial
of IBM PureApplication System . You can see these at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/expert/try.html
IBM PureSystems “patterns of expertise”combine operational know how, experience, and knowledge about
common infrastructure resource management (IRM), data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and other
repeatable processes, practices and workflows like provisioning. Common patterns of activity and expertise for
routine or other time-consuming tasks enable policy driven automation. Time-consuming and repetitive tasks like
provisioning, configuration, upgrades, IRM, DCIM, data protection, storage, and application management activities
all benefit from IBM PureSystems automation. IBM’s architecture for building patterns of expertise is open.
Patterns of expertise can be created for PHP ,Ruby, C++, and custom applications. Open architectures are key to
driving new technology adoption. This also includes support across both x86 and POWER-processor based
operating and hypervisor environments.
The re-factoring of applications for use in a cloud environment is done via the IBM Virtual Appliance Factory
(VAF) which produces Cloud services (images), in an industry standard format. In this way traditional application
solutions can be transformed into new Cloud images (services) for rapid customer deployment using IBM
PureSystem’s advanced unified management capabilities. These can be deployed on IBM PureApplication System
or on IBM PureFlex System. IBM’s Virtual Appliance Factory (VAF) is a collection of tools, technologies,
processes and methodologies. VAF helps developers and ISVs prepackage applications and solutions for
deployment into Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) on Intel and IBM PowerVM virtualized environments that are
supported by IBM PureSystems. VAF technologies include tools for combing operating systems, middleware, and
solution software into a delivery package or a virtual appliance.
On IBM PureFlex System, built-in systems pooling expertise enables policy-driven optimization of compute,
storage and networking resources to drive high system utilization, rapid provisioning, and efficient resource
allocation. System pools can be optimized for performance or availability as required. IBM PureFlex System also
offers storage optimization expertise through virtualization and intelligent tiering to maximize the storage
infrastructure performance and control.
The re-factoring of applications for use in a cloud environment is done via the IBM Virtual Appliance Factory
(VAF) which produces Cloud services (images), in an industry standard format. In this way traditional application
solutions can be transformed into new Cloud images (services) for rapid customer deployment using IBM
PureSystem’s advanced unified management capabilities.
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With IBM Virtualization Appliance Factory customers can repurpose and package their unique expertise as
downloadable solutions (patterns of expertise). IBM’s Virtual Appliance Factory (VAF) is a collection of tools,
technologies, processes and methodologies. VAF helps developers and ISVs prepackage applications and solutions
for deployment into Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) on Intel and IBM PowerVM virtualized environments that are
supported by IBM PureSystems. VAF technologies include tools for combing operating systems, middleware, and
solution software into a delivery package or a virtual appliance.
Cloud Ready
IBM PureFlex System offerings with SmartCloud Entry are cloud ready right out of the box on day one. IBM
SmartCloud Entry is a fully integrated end-to-end Cloud solution that provides usage accounting, budgeting, and
approvals/denials functions. With the SmartCloud administrative interface the cloud administrator and end users
use the same GUI only with certain functions ‘grayed out’ for end users.
IBM provides complete cloud solutions, hardware, software technologies and services for implementing private
cloud and added value on top of virtualized infrastructure – both x86 and POWER based - with IBM SmartCloud™
Entry. The product provides a comprehensive cloud software stack and enables customers to quickly deploy their
Cloud environment.
Security
The improved security measures implemented in the IBM Flex System Enterprise Chassis at the heart of the IBM
PureFlex System include tighter security standards and integration. Virtualization brings with it the requirement for
improved security, as mission critical workloads are consolidated to fewer and more powerful servers. The IBM
Flex System Enterprise Chassis management is designed to leverage current and future Trusted Computing Group
(TCG) security standards.
Security at the firmware, virtual machine, component, and system management level is integrated into the IBM
PureFlex System and IBM Flex System Manager. This level of integrated security establishes a unique and secure
Trusted Computing Base (TCB) which is a central benefit of the foundation that under pins all of the new IBM
PureSystems. These enhancements to systems security provide a significantly reduced attack surface as compared
to other commercially available systems on the market today
Networking
IBM PureFlex System’s network architecture provides unified network management, optimized and simplified
network infrastructure. This architecture supports a range of adapters, switches, and key network protocols.
Network resources are virtualized and managed by workload. The networking resources in IBM PureSystems are
virtualized, automated, optimized, managed by workload, standards-based, and fully integrated into the system.
Storage
IBM PureSystems come with factory installed and integrated storage. IBM Storwize V7000 virtualizes and
manages IBM storage as well as third party storage from vendors such as EMC and NetApp. The V7000 provides
storage tiering functionality so that the data that requires the fastest access and response times is placed on SSD
while other less latency sensitive data can be placed on rotating disk. IBM test results show that with tiered storage
support available through the IBM V7000 the dynamic relocation of data can improve performance by more than a
factor of two. Management of the V7000 is integrated under the IBM Flex System Manager as are all of the factory
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integrated PureSystem components. The IBM Storwize V7000 delivers significant benefit to customers in terms of
virtualization, overall system performance, and improved efficiency for both IBM and non-IBM storage.
Compute nodes
Available with either IBM POWER7® processors or Intel Xeon processors, IBM Flex System compute nodes are
optimized for efficiency, density, performance, reliability, and security. The IO capabilities of these nodes supports
up to 16 x 10 GB lanes per node. Taking advantage of the full capabilities of IBM POWER7® processors and / or
Intel Xeon processors, the IBM Flex System compute nodes are designed to deliver performance for business
critical applications. Cisco UCS provides no comparable advantage to that provided by IBM integrated pre-
configured POWER7 & x86 compute nodes and V7000 storage. IBM is clearly ahead when it comes to integrating
technologies. IBM Pure System offers Intel and Power7 Nodes which can be run side-by-side within the same IBM
PureFlex chassis.
Cisco UCS
Cisco UCS Manager is a device manager that only manages Cisco Blades, Rack Mount Servers, and other UCS
components. Cisco embeds their UCS Manager software in the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect switches.
Currently, the only way to get UCS Manager is to buy one of these switches. UCS is limited to actively managing
only those servers which are attached to the single pair of Fabric Interconnects that are running a unique instance of
UCS Manager. Cisco servers are Intel only and Cisco UCS Manager can only manage Cisco Switches, Blades,
Rack Mount servers, CNAs, and in chassis FEX (Fabric Extenders).
The Cisco UCS solution only offers converged Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) within the Cisco UCS 5100
chassis and not native Fibre Channel. Cisco UCS Manager does enable Fibre Channel over Ethernet in the UCS
internal fabric and preserves traditional Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity to LAN and SAN environments
north of the Fabric Interconnect. However, there is no true Fibre Channel connectivity south of the Fiber
Interconnect and there is no true Fibre Channel connectivity within the UCS Blade system chassis.
If a customer is currently running native Fibre Channel for SAN connectivity from individual rack mount or blade
servers they will need to migrate to the converged 10 GB FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) Cisco fabric.
However, for those customers doing net new installations, this lack of native Fibre Channel connectivity may not
pose a problem.
Due to the architectural differences between IBM PureFlex System and Cisco’s UCS Blade System, it may take
longer to evacuate VM’s from a failing UCS Blade or Rack Mount server to a healthy server than it would take
with IBM PureFlex System. This is because all blade-to-blade and chassis to chassis traffic within a Cisco UCS
management domain is routed through the Fabric Interconnect top of rack switch.
For a pure play Cisco IT shop, this approach may reduce the time spent in software and hardware deliberation,
selection, installation, and implementation. However, if the IT infrastructure is heterogeneous, and based on open
standards, customers should consider how a system like the UCS Blade System will be integrated and managed as
part of a heterogeneous data center environment.
Cisco UCS and Cloud
Cisco has recently released and started promoting CloudVerse® which is not a stand-alone out of the box solution
but rather a framework comprised of several discrete offerings: Unified Data Center, Cloud Intelligent Network,
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Cloud Applications, and Services. Cisco has stated that they are supporting CloudVerse with new cloud
enablement services that combine Cisco's professional and technical services with those of partners.
With Cisco UCS in order have even basic cloud capabilities customers have to purchase additional software from
other vendors and either do the integration themselves, or have a value added reseller of system integrator provide
that service. In our opinion this does not represent a rapid deployment easy to use cloud solution.
Scalability and Availability
For the UCS Blade system to deliver its maximum throughput, all uplink ports on each of the two Fabric Extenders
(FEX) in the UCS 5108 chassis must be connected to one or the other of the Cisco Top of Rack Fabric Interconnect
switches. However, this type of maximum throughput configuration brings with it the unfortunate result of
effectively limiting UCS Blade System scalability.
If a Cisco UCS customer requires maximum scale out of capacity, an option is to use only one of the available
uplinks on each FEX. In this type configuration customers run the risk of unacceptable levels of transactional
latency, over subscription of ports, and bottlenecking on the south side of the Top of Rack Fabric Interconnect
Switch.
The Cisco Blade servers within the 5108 chassis run the risk of increased latency at the Top of Rack Fabric
Interconnect Switch. For this reason the Cisco UCS 5108 based solution is not a good fit for many high
performance and high transaction rate workloads nor is it appropriate for VM based high transaction rate workloads
as, in such a scenario, a customer could run the very real risk of over subscription and increased transactional
latency occurring simultaneously.
Customers should be aware that there is no native Fibre Channel connectivity available within the Cisco UCS 5108
chassis or within the rack that contains the chassis. However, there is Native Fibre Channel connectivity that is
available on the north side of the Top of Rack Fabric Interconnect switch if an appropriate expansion module is
purchased.
Cisco UCS may not be good fit for mission critical workloads where reduced transactional latency is a requirement.
Cisco’s Intel centric approach to the Blade market, while highly simplified and easy to understand, is not a
particularly good fit for applications requiring collaboration and messaging between compute nodes. Additionally,
if the IT infrastructure is heterogeneous, and based on open standards, customers should consider how a system like
UCS will be integrated and managed as part of a heterogeneous data center environment.
Messaging
With Cisco UCS for one blade to communicate with any other blade in the same chassis or another blade in another
chassis in the same physical rack, that traffic has to be routed from the first blade up to the Top of Rack FI switch
and then from that switch, it is routed to the second blade. In this manner, the Cisco UCS architecture introduces
additional latency during blade-to-blade and chassis-to-chassis messaging.
Cisco UCS does not permit direct blade-to-blade communications within the same chassis or within the same rack
but on different chassis. Any increase in latency is of interest when moving VMs from one physical server to
another physical server as in the case of the evacuation of VMs from a failing server to a healthy server. In this
case increases in latency have a direct impact on the level of service provided by VMs being migrated while
handling workloads and in-flight transactions.
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IBM PureSystems are a good fit for those applications and workloads requiring node-to-node messaging such as,
collaboration and analytics (Big Data). Cisco UCS is limited regarding its performance on these types of
workloads due to the very nature of its architecture.
Storage
Cisco UCS Manager enables Fibre Channel over Ethernet in the UCS internal fabric and preserves traditional
Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity to LAN and SAN environments north of the Fabric Interconnect.
However, there is no true Fibre Channel connectivity south of the Fiber Interconnect and there is no true Fibre
Channel connectivity within the UCS Blade system chassis.
Cisco relies on other vendors like NetApp and EMC for storage and storage management. However, Cisco does
provide a highly customizable set of XML APIs so that developers and system level software, tools, and utilities
providers can integrate their offerings with Cisco UCS Manager. UCS does not manage storage resources.
However, with additional user effort storage tools can export the definitions of pools of storage resources to the
UCS Manager for use in allocating storage resources to UCS servers using the UCS Service Profiling capability.
When running in End Host Mode Cisco UCS Manager allows the use of FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) to
connect a storage array directly to the Fabric Interconnect by pinning a north side Fabric Interconnect port to a
VSAN (Virtual Storage Area Network). However, due to the nature of End Host Mode it is not possible to perform
either LUN (Logical Unit Number) masking nor do normal storage Zoning as would be the case if the Fabric
Interconnect Top of Rack switch operating in Layer 2 switch mode with STP enabled. Caveat - configuring the
Fabric Interconnect to run as a Layer 2 switch running STP could serve to exacerbate the effect of transactional
latency due to additional loading on the switch based CPU, as it would be required to generate, send, and receive
BPDUs.
Latency
Cisco UCS provides predictable levels of latency or predictable performance regardless of the physical location of a
workload or blade server as long as they are in the same rack because it takes a predictable amount of time (latency)
to be accessed through the Fabric Interconnect. Customers are advised to consider whether predictable latency is
appropriate for their workloads or if what they really need is reduced (low) latency.
Cisco UCS Manager
Cisco UCS Manager’s embedded device management software manages the software and hardware components of
the Cisco Unified Computing System ™ across multiple chassis and virtual machines through a Java based GUI, a
CLI (command-line interface), or an XML (Extensible Markup Language) Application Programming Interface
(API). Service Profiles in the UCS Manager application can be used to set up and configure stateless Intel Xeon
based Cisco Blades, Rack mount servers, and virtual machines. Service Profile settings can be ‘moved’ with a
virtual machine when it is moved using VMware’s VMotion (an additional tool) in the case of a server failure or
when reallocating capacity to satisfy changing workload requirements.
Cisco UCS Manager Service Profiles are created by server, network, and storage administrators and stored on the
UCS Fabric Interconnect in an object based data store. Cisco UCS Manager discovers UCS devices that are added,
moved, or removed from the UCS system. This information, added to the UCS Manager’s inventory (a light weight
CMDB), is saved on the Fabric Interconnect switch. UCS Manager uses this information when deploying Service
Profiles to newly discovered resources. When a Service Profile is deployed UCS Manager configures the server,
adapters, fabric extenders, fabric interconnects, NICs, HBAs, LAN, and SAN switches. Service Profiles can also
be used to enable Virtual Network Link (VN-Link) capabilities for VN-Link supported hypervisors.
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IBM PureSystems provide the same level of profiling capabilities in the current release with significant
enhancements cited in their product road map.
BMC software can work through Cisco UCS Manager to stand up, provision, and manage UCS Blade and Rack
mount servers as well as Virtual Machines on those servers. Cisco does not sell system level management and
monitoring software instead relying on BMC, EMC, CA, IBM and others to fill this void. UCS by itself does not
do bare metal operating system installations or application software installations. Cisco UCS relies on third party
tools that do, like Altiris, BMC BladeLogic and Cisco’s own Cisco Server Provisioner (acquired via the Tidal
acquisition). IBM Flex System Manager does include these types of capabilities for systems management for both
physical and virtual resources.
Cisco UCS Manager is a device or element management application that is only available from Cisco with the
purchase of a Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect. UCS Manager handles hardware provisioning, configuration, and
management but only for UCS certified components such as Cisco B series blades and Cisco C series rack mount
servers. UCS manages these servers as stateless devices and uses XML to configure these stateless devices using
UCS specific Service Profiles.
Cisco UCS Manager ecosystem partners include BMC, CA, Compuware, Dynamic Ops, EMC, HP, IBM,
Microsoft, SolarWinds, Symantec, VMware, and Zenoss.
The XML APIs for the UCS Manager application can be used by 3rd party management tools. Using these APIs
Data Center Management software from BMC, CA, EMC, and IBM can provision and decommission servers based
on demand. Currently, only BMC and EMC use these APIs to this extent. However, IBM Tivoli will soon have
this capability (currently in beta testing) allowing Cisco UCS compute pods or islands of computing to be
integrated into a broader, more heterogeneous, Converged Data Center environment. IBM PureSystems use
REST(Representational State Transfer) APIs which are more functionally rich than, and a higher level superset of,
the XML (Extensible Markup Language) APIs used by Cisco (read as you can do more with REST that XML and
with less work).
Hypervisors
Cisco UCS supports the VMware ESX, ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, OVM, and Xen hypervisors. Cisco’s
implementation of VMware virtualization ESX and ESXi run directly on the UCS system hardware, without
additional software, providing hypervisor functionality to host guest operating systems such as Windows or Linux
on the physical server. IBM PureSystems support “off the shelf” VMWare ESX and ESXi, Microsoft Hyper V, and
KVM for x86, and PowerVM for POWER-based environments like AIX, IBM i and Linux.
VCE Vblock and NetApp FlexPod
VCE Vblock and NetApp Flex pod are basically partner focused repackaging of the underlying Cisco UCS 5108
bladed system. VCE Vblock solution stack and NetApp FlexPod solution framework are in essence variations on a
theme with the theme being building a loosely integrated system around the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis and B series
Blades. In the case of NetApp FlexPod the offer integrates Cisco UCS, Net App FAS storage, and a hypervisor
using an integration framework with application solution and management software being added in much the same
way that you would install software on a PC after you have purchased it and set it up.
In the case of VCE Vblock Cisco UCS is the core compute element, storage is provided by EMC and virtualization
by VMware. However, just like with FlexPod the management software still needs to be added. In the case of
Vblock the system is assembled, integrated, and tested by VCE at their facilities. With FlexPod NetApp relies on
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third party channel partners and system integrators to provide the assembly and integration of components and
software per the NetApp FlexPod framework.
With FlexPod support is provided by each of the individual contributing vendors. With VCE they provide a single
point of contact for service and warrantee related issues and handle escalation to partner teams internally shielding
customers from that hand off.
The comparison with IBM PureFlex System shows the true meaning and benefit of expert integration and patterns
of expertise. IBM PureFlex is designed as a system, rather than a stack of components or an integration framework,
from the ground up with all of the essential components tightly integrated including storage, networking,
virtualization, management, and security. The key difference at the most basic level is that IBM PureFlex is a
system while Vblock a stack of partner components and software and FlexPod a framework for integrating partner
components and software are not. Vblock is a more complete solution than FlexPod. However, on the overall level
of integration alone both of these offerings pale by comparison to IBM PureFlex System. Unfortunately most of
the limitations and dependencies cited earlier in this paper for Cisco UCS 5108 bladed systems have been inherited
by Vblock and FlexPod.
Comparison
For the purposes of evaluating and comparing vendors of integrated converged systems HRG has listed a number of
contributing factors in the table that follows as a way to evaluate and rate competing vendors on their effectiveness
in meeting customer requirements for simplifying the selection, purchase, installation, configuration,
implementation, and management of IT solutions for business.
0%
Within the following table HRG uses a graphic device which comprises 5 elements that
25% indicate a rating on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is the worst possible rating and 100 is the
50%
best possible rating. One additional dimension of this rating scheme is that these graphic
elements can also be understood to indicate the level of completeness of a feature or
75% function where 0 would indicate that a function is totally lacking and 100 would indicate
that the function is currently complete as regards all requirements from a customer
100%
perspective.
The vendor offerings that are compared in the following table are: IBM PureFlex, Cisco UCS, VCE’s Vblock, and
NetApp’s FlexPod. Vblock and FlexPod are included here in this analysis as they are based in large part on Cisco
UCS. The factors each offering is compared on were selected based on their clarity and applicability across the
selected solutions.
The following evaluation criteria were used to build the comparison table on page 11.
Automation:
 Automation of repetitive tasks
 Automation of basis system management and administrative functions
 Advanced automation or unattended automation such that the system will self-manage minimal human
operator intervention
 Automation provides advanced management functionality such as unattended system failover, VM
migration, security and other system level updates.
Cloud:
 Cloud readiness – is the system cloud ready on initial power up?
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 Cloud Functionality – is the system delivered with all of the functionality required to launch a private cloud
implementation?
 Is the Cloud implementation scalable with little or no direct human intervention?
Configuration:
 Does the system arrive at the customer site fully configured and ready to do useful work?
 What is the level of completeness of configuration?
 Does the system require installation and set up at the customer site by a value added reseller or systems
integrator?
 Is the configuration process flexible providing a broad enough range of configuration to meet most normal
customer requirements?
Factory Assembly & Integration:
 Is the system fully assembled at the factory or does the customer have to install blades and other
components on delivery so that the system is ready to work in a production environment?
 What level of component and software integration is part of the assembly process?
 Are all components and software certified by the vendor to work as advertised?
Management & Administration:
 What is the level of usability of system management software by minimally trained administrators?
 How intuitive is the graphical user interface of the system management software?
 Is fully functional full capability management software provided by the vendor or does the customer have
to purchase and install additional 3rd party software?
 Is the management software that the vendor installs able to learn and automate system management tasks?
Network:
 Does the system arrive as a network ready system that is ready to integrate into existing network
infrastructure with minimal human intervention?
 Does the system come preconfigured with all required networking functionality and switching capability
integrated, certified, and factory tested?
 Does the system’s internal network architecture facilitate optimal VM migration to accommodate changing
workload requirements and or compute node fail over?
Ordering & Installation:
 How easy is the system to order?
 Is the system available in standard easy to consume configurations?
 Is the system orderable as a single part number or does the customer have to invoke a cumbersome
configuration process when placing an order?
 When the system arrives at the customer site what level of support is required to unpack, setup, install, and
operate the system?
Patterns of Expertise
 Does the system come with preintegrated patterns of expertise which are applied to system management?
 Is the system assembled and preconfigured leveraging vendor experience and patterns of expertise?
 Does the system support the creation and implementation of customer derived patterns of expertise?
Security
 Does the system come with security software pre integrated and preinstalled so that it boots into a secure
configuration on initial power up?
 Does the integrated system security capability include automatic vulnerability profile update and
application of system patches?
 Does the system come in a prehardened configuration with security functionality that protects firmware and
virtual machines from evolving vulnerabilities and attack vectors?
Storage
 Does the system come with preintegrated storage installed?
 Does the system management software support full storage virtualization?
 Does the system management software support the integration and virtualization of third party storage?
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Virtualization
 Does the system support key industry standard hypervisors?
 Can the management software that comes with the system manage all aspects of virtualization?
 Can the management software manage and optimize virtualized workloads to meet evolving SLA and QOS
requirements?
Rating IBM Cisco VCE – NetApp -
Comment
Factor PureSystem UCS Vblock FlexPod
Automation Cisco relies on partners for system level functionality like automation. IBM has
in-house expertise and solutions that have been integrated into PureSystems
IBM Pureflex Systems include IBM Smart Cloud Entry (SCE) offering for
Cloud building and manage private clouds securely, efficiently and quickly. PureFlex
comes with Lab ”free” services hours which can be used to configure SCE.
IBM PureFlex is available in one of 3 standardized and optimized configurations:
Configuration
Express, Standard, and Enterprise and each of these can be customized,
configured, and tuned at the IBM factory instead of in customer’s data center
Factory IBM delivers a complete factory assembled and integrated solution in a single
Assembly & shippable container with all components mounted and ready to run in a single
true turnkey foot print. Cisco comes in an assortment of boxes and shipping
Integration container requiring assembly and integration at the customer site
Mgmt. & IBM has in-house expertise, experience and software that has been integrated
Admin into and optimized for IBM PureSystems. Cisco relies on third parties providing
this capability through xml APIs.
PureSystems in chassis (East/West) messaging is superior in heavy workload
situations to Cisco’s latency prone North South oriented architecture. Cisco is
Network
market share leader in networking and Cisco UCS clearly benefits from this
expertise. IBM has made some recent acquisitions but has a way to go to reach
parity with Cisco whose principal business is Networking.
Ordering & One price, one part number, one shipping container – it will be hard for Cisco to
Installation catch up with IBM PureSystems in this area.
Patterns of Clearly IBM benefits from the years spent honing system development,
expertise customization, deployment, and custom consulting skills. A clear win for IBM.
IBM has built in system security at the chassis level. IBM PureSystems are
Security designed to boot in a security integrated and optimized configuration. Cisco
provides some level of access control and here again relies on third parties to
provide the needed functionality integrated through XML APIs.
IBM’s V7000 which is factory integrated and optimized in the IBM PureSystem
rack can integrated, virtualize, and manage IBM and 3rd party storage like EMC.
Storage
Cisco has a close relationship with EMC and leverages this to provide third part
integrated storage. Cisco does not have their own storage management offering
and relies on third parties for this..
There are differences between Cisco and IBM regarding virtualization – IBM has
Virtualization
excellent virtualization capabilities through Power VM and KVM – Cisco has
equivalent benefit through tight VMware integration.
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12. Harvard Research Group, Inc.
Conclusion
With the recent introduction of IBM PureSystems IBM earns high marks meeting the challenges that face most
business and IT CXOs and managers today. IBM once again demonstrates that they are in touch with their
customers and are aggressively working to provide solutions and benefits for customers who need to reduce their
TCO and accelerate time to value. The new IBM PureSystems are flexible, agile and easy to implement business
centric IT solutions.
IBM PureSystems combine industry leading server, enterprise storage, networking, virtualization and management
experience, expertise, and capabilities into a single physical and logical structure that simplifies management,
delivers on the promise of responsive and flexible business driven deployment, and integrates real-world based
patterns of virtual and hardware resources through a “single pane of glass” unified management view.
The new IBM PureSystem offerings; IBM PureFlex infrastructure systems, IBM PureApplication platform system,
and associated partner programs, deliver significant business system and solution value to customers looking for
positive business impact and results.
Based on our analysis and comparison we conclude that IBM has a broader more complete offering than Cisco
UCS even though Cisco has been in the converged systems market longer. The integrated expertise embodied in
the new IBM PureFlex Systems goes beyond the basic management and functionality of the underlying
components. By building in and tightly integrating good management practices and automation designed to
streamline systems management with the expertise that IBM has gained through decades of running and deploying
thousands of business critical applications IBM is delivering significant experience, expertise, technology
innovation and business knowledge in a single easy to consume offering.
The new IBM PureSystems with built-in expertise represent the next step in the evolution of Information
Technology. This new offering provides what executives and business owners have been looking for – an easy to
use system that delivers functional richness without the complexity of previous generation systems.
We recommend that you a give these new systems a closer look!
Copyright © 2012 Harvard Research Group, Inc. Page 12

13. Harvard Research Group, Inc.
Harvard Research Group is an information technology market research and consulting company. The company
provides highly focused market research and consulting services to vendors and users of computer hardware,
software, and services. For more information please contact Harvard Research Group:
Harvard Research Group
Harvard, MA 01451 USA
Tel. (978) 456-3939
e-mail: hrg@hrgresearch.com
http://www.hrgresearch.com
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