IDC: Dramatic Performance GAINS for SPARC

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Oracle Launches T5 and M5 Servers: A New Generation of
Oracle's SPARC/Solaris Servers
April 05, 2013 - IDC Link
By: Jean Bozman
On March 26, 2013, Oracle Corp. announced its T5 and M5 servers — all based on the
company's SPARC processors and all running the Solaris operating system. The
announcements showed dramatic performance gains for SPARC, with 16-core
microprocessor technology based on three years of IP (intellectual property) development
at Oracle, following Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. in January 2010.
The SPARC systems launch focused on midrange and high-end servers, all of them built on
microprocessor technology acquired from Sun, adding new T5 and M5 processors designed
by Oracle, and fabricated by TSMC in Taiwan.
Performance for the T-Series and M-Series processors is much faster than for older SPARC
processors, which had eight cores. Oracle said that the T5 processor is twice as fast as the
T4 processor that was introduced in the second half of 2011 and is widely sold. The T5 will
be used in systems with up to eight sockets. It said the larger M5 systems, shipped with
16 to 32 sockets, will support 10 times faster Oracle Database performance than older M-
Series servers.
During the launch event, Oracle said the new microprocessors far outpace previous SPARC
technology, making Oracle much more competitive against its two major rivals in the Unix
server space — IBM and HP. Importantly, Oracle also compared the T5 and M5 systems
with previous Oracle models. To demonstrate the improved performance for the new
generation of SPARC processors, Oracle highlighted a series of benchmarks that it has
published through third-party benchmarking groups (e.g., TPC and SPEC).

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The technology refresh is based on 16-core SPARC microprocessors that run at 3.6GHz,
with the effect that they now run Unix server workloads much faster than before. This is
important for the installed base of SPARC servers, which is extensive worldwide. Due to
the binary compatibility that has historically been built into every generation of
SPARC/Solaris servers, new T5 and M5 models will run older applications without change.
Even so, Oracle made clear that it will continue to sell the T4-based servers, which have
sold well, because customers may want to match other T4 units.
Highlights of the Oracle T5 and M5 announcements included the following:
 A range of four T5-based models. Based on Oracle-designed T5
processors, these include the 1-socket (T5-1 blade), 2-socket (T5-2), 4-
socket (T5-4), and 8-socket (T5-8) models. The T5 is a 16-core processor,
with eight threads per core. In addition, T4-based servers will continue to be
sold for some time to come. Oracle has said that the T4-based servers had a
fast ramp and that they continue to generate volume shipments for SPARC
servers.
 Two M5 servers — one with 16 sockets and one with 32
sockets. Based on Oracle-designed M5 processors, these will replace older
M-Series servers, which were often deployed as Unix mainframes, given the
OLTP and database workloads they run. Oracle will build 32-socket models,
and customers will specify which capacity they want to buy.
 Description of future ASIC processors. This technology leverages ASIC
hardware to accelerate software operations. They will include processor-
based accelerators for database and Java workloads and are due to ship in
2014.
Product Transitions in Servers
In its March 20 earnings call, Oracle had noted the announcements to come in the
following week and said the new servers would be key to a turnaround in Oracle's
hardware business. That is much needed because Oracle hardware revenue — inclusive of
servers and storage — has declined by more than 20%, year over year, in Oracle's fiscal
Q2 FY13 and Q3 FY13. The anticipation may have been one factor in the hardware decline,
especially for high-end M-Series deals that were delayed or closing later than originally
expected, Oracle executives said.

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As noted in the March 20, 2013, call, Oracle believes the technology in which it has
invested since its January 2010 acquisition of Sun Microsystems is about to pay off in a
new round of stronger hardware sales. "We expect the turnaround really to begin in Q1,
not in Q4, because we have this large introduction of new systems," said Oracle CEO Larry
Ellison. "Next year will be a big growth year for our entire hardware business — the
SPARC line and all of the engineered systems." He noted then, "With the delivery of the
M5 servers next week, Oracle will have finished upgrading every server in the SPARC
product line, dating from the time we acquired Sun."
Density in Server Design in the Midrange
Reducing the distance between system components is always a good thing when it comes
to computer design, and that is true for all vendors. Not only does it boost performance
and throughput, but it also reduces the amount of datacenter floor space needed,
compared with older models with less density. That phenomenon allows high-end server
features to flow to midrange price levels, in a cascade effect that is driven by reduced
price/performance.
Oracle is leveraging these design principles in its T5-8 model, which is an eight-socket
server for consolidating application and database workloads — and for running new
workloads. Due to the improved price/performance in the new SPARC servers, compared
with earlier models, Unix server customers will be able to move workloads from larger
SMP servers to the T5-8, reducing the footprint in the datacenter for those workloads.
Reduction in server footprint size will translate into operational cost reductions related to
workload consolidation and power/cooling for SPARC servers.
The new M5 servers will support dense processing in smaller spaces within the datacenter.
They have any-to-any connections between all processors, arranged in a "mesh"
architecture, and they support electrical isolation within processing "cells." The isolation is
important for protecting workloads, by preventing them from interfering with one another.
The prospect of being able to buy a technology refresh for the M8000s and M9000s, which
were introduced with quad-core SPARC64 VII processors in July 2008, may have been a
factor in slowing M-class shipments in Q3 FY13 shipments, Oracle executives said in the
March 20, 2013, financial earnings call.

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IDC notes that Oracle brought the M5 to market a bit earlier than had been originally
expected, based on the road maps shown at Oracle OpenWorld two years ago. And that
may transform the relationship with Fujitsu Ltd., which had built the earlier M-class
models and the SPARC64 processors on which they were based. IDC expects both Oracle
and Fujitsu to sell SPARC-based servers but to build their own M-class models based on
their respective SPARC technologies. The servers will be sold under their own brands.
Separate from Engineered Systems
The SPARC systems product launch completes the process of updating the server line,
following Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in January 2010. Oracle has invested in
the SPARC technologies it inherited from Sun to update all of its general-purpose servers,
which run SPARC and the Solaris operating system. IDC estimates that there are hundreds
of thousands of SPARC-based systems still in active use worldwide, providing a broad
opportunity for technology refresh and workload consolidation.
They will be sold as part of a broader portfolio of server systems, including the Oracle
Engineered Systems, most of which are based on x86 architecture and run Oracle Linux.
These include the Oracle Exadata, Exalogic, and Exalytics products — and the Oracle Big
Data Appliance and Oracle Database Appliance products. The only SPARC-based
engineered system is the SPARC SuperCluster, which combines aspects of the Exadata
and Exalogic engineered systems. To date, more than 5,000 engineered systems have
been sold worldwide, according to Oracle.
Competitive Analysis
Oracle stands to improve its competitive position in the Unix server marketplace, given its
CY12 market share of 19%, statistically tied with HP but less than IBM, which had 56%
market share, by factory revenue, in CY12. In 2012, the worldwide Unix server market
generated $9.1 billion worldwide, which has declined in recent years from levels of $12
billion, or more, in the years prior to 2007. Reasons for the decline include platform
migration, the aging out of older Unix SMP servers, the effects of the economic downturn
on IT budgets, and the rise of x86 architecture in datacenter infrastructure.

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With this launch, Oracle emphasized its direct positioning against IBM's Power Systems,
especially the midrange and high-end models. This toe-to-toe competition will likely be
energized by both Oracle and IBM, which compete in both the server and database
(DBMS) market spaces. They are the two largest Unix/RISC server providers worldwide,
because SPARC and POWER are RISC processors. However, when looking at the overall
Unix server space, IDC notes that IBM, Oracle, and HP, which builds its Unix servers on
Intel Itanium processors, are still the top three Unix server providers worldwide — as they
have been for some time.
Fujitsu Ltd. is in fourth place in the worldwide Unix server market, based on factory
revenue market share. The M5 announcement underscores how the long relationship
between Sun and Fujitsu, which began in the 1980s, is changing over time. What was not
mentioned is that Fujitsu also sells M-class servers worldwide, based on Fujitsu's SPARC64
processors, and will continue to do so.
Due to these Unix server competitive dynamics, customers can expect to witness an
acceleration in advertising via print, and Internet, in 2013. The ads will likely focus on
performance and benchmarks and customer success stories. But customers can also
leverage this intense competition in their favor to drive down acquisition costs, by inviting
competitive bids from multiple vendors, in a dynamic that once was seen in the plug-
compatible mainframe (PCM) marketplace in the 1980s and 1990s.
Conclusion
Oracle has invested deeply in improving the performance of the T-Series processors it
developed following its acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010. It has pushed its
engineering efforts to release new SPARC processor technology — providing a much more
competitive general-purpose server platform. This will provide an immediate improvement
for its large installed base, even as it lends momentum to a new round of competition in
the Unix server marketplace.
For longtime Sun customers, the technology refresh will be welcome, leading to improved
SPARC server sales right away. But Oracle can be expected to look far beyond its own
installed base, planning to grow its total available market (TAM) by taking share from its
longtime Unix competitors, IBM and HP. Now that the new T5 and M5 technology is ready,
IDC will watch with great interest in coming quarters to see whether the T5 and M5

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announcements will lead to near-term market share gain and to a long-awaited
turnaround in Oracle's hardware business.
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