NetApp Said its FAS3040 Outperformed EMC CLARiiON CX3-40

NetApp announced that the NetApp( FAS3040
modular storage system outperformed the EMC CLARiiON CX3 Model 40
based on a series of recently submitted SPC-1(TM) Results, the
industry’s most recognized storage performance benchmark.

The
independently audited SPC-1 Results provided a head-to-head comparison
of both products on their overall SAN performance with and without
snapshots enabled. Snapshots are commonly employed by enterprise
storage customers to provide continuous protection and smart copies of
their data. In both cases, the NetApp FAS3040 outshined the EMC
CLARiiON CX3-40, delivering 30,985.90 SPC-1 IOPs versus 24,997.48
SPC-1 IOPs (baseline result) and a robust 29,958.60 SPC-1 IOPs versus
just 8,997.17 SPC-1 IOPs (baseline result with snapshots enabled)(1).
These results further validate NetApp as the high-performance leader
for real-world data center deployments featuring value-add data
management and data protection functionality.

"NetApp’s recent SPC-1 benchmark results confirm our earlier
published findings on achieving excellent competitive performance with
real-world configurations using valued features such as Snapshots,"
said Pat Cimprich, Avanade’s chief architect for Infrastructure and
Security Solutions. "Practical performance results like these help
Avanade design and implement well-managed storage solutions for
enterprise applications, including Microsoft Exchange Server,
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and SQL Server, which supports
dynamic computing capabilities that help companies streamline and
promote faster business change."

In addition to high performance, the SPC-1 Results also provides
evidence that NetApp FAS3040 customers can realistically expect 68%
better capacity utilization than EMC CX3-40 users as a result of
RAID-DP(TM), NetApp’s Double-Parity RAID 6 (2). This set of SPC-1
Results represent NetApp innovation and leadership in a number of key
areas:

• The first-ever results utilizing Double-Parity RAID 6
• The first-ever results utilizing Snapshot copies
• The highest percentage usable capacity ever benchmarked for a
  modular SAN storage system

The NetApp FAS3040 has a lower list price than the EMC CLARiiON
CX3-40. The lower price and superior capacity utilization provide a
far lower cost per benchmarked gigabyte, a key indicator for effective
real-world data center capacity planning.

"We saw a dramatic increase in performance after switching from
EMC CLARiiON to NetApp storage systems," said David Duchai, senior
vice president of Information Technology Services, First American
Bank. "Uptime and usable storage capacity also increased
substantially. Our system has become so easy to manage that we need
only one administrator. NetApp is head and shoulders above EMC."

"The simplicity of the NetApp storage solution represents
significant management savings," said George White, chief information
officer, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. "Then factor in
performance, and NetApp is appreciably more cost-effective than our
old DAS solution and the alternative SAN solution we evaluated."

"This set of SPC-1 Results is clear proof that NetApp SAN storage
solutions provide our customers with outstanding performance when
compared to the competition," said Rich Clifton, senior vice president
and general manager, Virtualization and Grid Infrastructures, NetApp.
"The customer relevance of these results set a new standard, as we
made sure to simulate a real-life data storage environment by
implementing NetApp Snapshot and RAID 6 as part of the testing
methodology. As the results show, the NetApp FAS3040 passed with high
marks while maintaining the high-performance standards our customers
have come to expect."

"The Storage Performance Council is pleased that NetApp has
published its first SPC-1 Results, joining a group of distinguished
members," said Walter E. Baker, administrator for the SPC. "We also
applaud the introduction of snapshots, in the context of an SPC-1
Result, as more and more companies today are leveraging this
technology to provide continuous protection and smart copies of their
data.. The inclusion of this feature during the benchmark measurements
renders the results even more relevant to real-world applications."

In the past, customers had to rely on vendor-generated information
and come to their own conclusions when determining which storage
solution was right for their business. SPC-1Results, however, do away
with the guesswork and provide customers with a clear point of
reference that compares two similar products side by side while using
the exact same testing methodologies on each. Furthermore, it
eliminates performance as a point of uncertainty for those customers
purchasing NetApp storage solutions and enhances customer confidence
in the production usage of Snapshot copies by confirming that its
performance impact is negligible.

NetApp

Storage Performance Council