Teradata Ships Powerful Server For “Green” Data Warehousing
Uses less energy, coexists with multiple generations of servers to protect IT investment
Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), announced the availability of its Teradata 5500 Server, which uses
approximately 75 percent less energy and coexists with multiple generations of Teradata servers thereby protecting the
technology investment of customers. The Teradata 5500 Server supports Teradata® Warehouse 8.2, a suite of software,
hardware and professional consulting services that helps businesses make smarter, more competitive decisions.
“The efficiency of the Teradata 5500 Server will provide Teradata customers with up to a 75 percent reduction in
electricity usage for the same capability data warehouse as compared to Teradata servers of three to five years ago.
That’s enough kilowatt-hours saved by one typical system to power 40 U.S. homes for one year. In addition, the 5500
Server reduces the floor space requirement by approximately 66 percent,” said Noel Pettit, Teradata General Sales
Manager for Australia and New Zealand. “Teradata constantly strives to improve the performance per watt of our servers.
These improvements have been driven by Teradata’s commitment to operating our business in an environmentally sound
manner worldwide.”
By dramatically reducing energy usage for the same system performance, Teradata has also reduced associated data centre
cooling and power delivery infrastructure costs by a similar ratio. In addition to lower energy-related cooling costs,
the Teradata patented cabinet door design provides a 30 percent improvement in cabinet cooling efficiency over
conventional cabinet door designs. Cooling expenses are a major portion of data centre costs because cooling computer
equipment can consume the same amount of energy as powering the equipment.
The Teradata 5500 Server extends the capability to coexist with multiple generations of Teradata servers even further,
which protects the technology investment made by Teradata customers. Coexistence is the ability to allow multiple
generations of servers, each with a different level of processing power, to be connected into the same Teradata system
with each generation processing a balanced, proportionate level of system workload. According to Mr Pettit, “With
Teradata, coexistence is not a myth. The ability of Teradata to coexist with multiple generations of servers outshines
the other data warehouse vendors.”
According to Donald Feinberg of Gartner Group, “When IT executives are upgrading to new data warehouse servers, they
shouldn’t have to swap out all of their older servers to introduce the new technology. The ability of older servers to
successfully integrate with new servers would be at the top of my list to consider before selecting a data warehousing
vendor.”
As a customer’s business grows, the Teradata 5500 Server can grow easily from a small powerhouse of hundreds of
gigabytes up to a massive 4 petabyte-sized warehouse. Additionally, Teradata server platforms are highly available,
providing continuous performance and reliable response times that enable the use of a Teradata solution in the most
demanding of active data warehouse business-critical environments.
The Teradata 5500 Server maximises system performance, especially that required for active data warehouses, by
leveraging the Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5100 technology with Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T).
“The Dual-Core Intel Xeon chip set is much more efficient at data warehouse workloads, as compared to the scientific
workload oriented Intel Itanium chip touted by some nascent data warehouse vendors,” said Pettit.
The Teradata 5500 Server also leverages the EM64T functionality of the Intel Xeon processor to support both 32-bit and
64-bit based data warehouse solutions. Customers may select the 64-bit Linux or Windows Server 2003 and the 32-bit UNIX
operating systems for the best fit in their enterprise.
The Teradata 5500 Server significantly improves customers’ capability to handle vastly expanded data volumes, heavier
decision-support demands and complex mixed workloads. These mixed workloads include deep analytics for strategic
intelligence as well as the real-time data load and immediate information access required to support companies’ business
operations.
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