Oracle Exadata X9M

Introducing the all-new Oracle Exadata X9M platform

When the Oracle Exadata X8M platform was released, no other database server came close in terms of performance, either on-premise or in the cloud. But with the release of the new Oracle Exadata X9M platform, an all-new standard has been set.

According to Oracle, this latest generation server offers a massive 70% performance boost, delivering up to 27.6 million SQL IOPS per rack. This is achieved by using Intel Ice Lake 32-core CPUs to give a 33% increase in the max number of cores and RAM per server, along with a 64% upgrade in memory bandwidth.

By switching the 14TB disks used in the X8M series with 18TB alternatives, the X9M allows users to increase potential storage capacity without affecting the purchase price. Overall, each rack offers a mix of up to 1,216 DB cores, 38TB memory, 3.8 PB Raw Disk, 920 TB NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express) Flash, and 27 TB Intel Optane PMem (Persistent Memory).

So what?

The Oracle Exadata X9M platform is built for the most demanding of database deployments. SQL IOPS are 42% cheaper, making the platform an affordable choice for mid-sized customers with transaction-intensive workloads for instance.

The X9M platform is also well suited to analytics functions. With 1TB/second of SQL throughput per rack, you can scan over a terabyte of data every second. This is ideal for real-time analytics, such as IoT or financial services applications. Scanning is also 47% cheaper than the X8M, enabling the use of analytics by smaller organisations.

Cloud-like operations – in your data centre

Exadata Cloud@Customer X9M is described by Oracle as “the world’s fastest on-premises cloud database system”. And with IO latencies of under 19 microseconds, they are almost certainly correct.

According to the Wikibon community, a cloud database:

  • Matches the infrastructure technology with the database application performance requirements
  • Scales horizontally and vertically to match the business requirements seamlessly
  • Automatically provides appropriate levels (SLAs) of availability, speed-of-recovery, and data-loss in recovery required by the business
  • Scales up and down rapidly and with no operational impact to changing demand
  • Allows users to pay only for the compute and storage used
  • Provides automation of all standard operating processes and database options

The X9M meets all these criteria – and it significantly outperforms Amazon RDS and Microsoft Azure SQL. Exadata Cloud@Customer X9M delivers 50x better OLTP latency and 100x better than Azure SQL. For analytics functions, X9M is 25x faster than Azure and 72x quicker than Amazon RDS.

The Exadata Cloud@Customer platform offers the best of both worlds. Massive scalability and on-demand resource allocation like the cloud coupled with extreme performance that can only normally be found in an on-premise data centre. Indeed, the X9M is the perfect platform for high-demand, high-performance Oracle databases.

To learn more about the Oracle Exadata X9M platform and what it offers your business, please give us a call.

Oracle Cloud at Customer

All the power of the public cloud in your data centre

Private cloud technologies have been instrumental in helping businesses build fully scalable databases. As these platforms age, attention turns to the next evolution; systems must continue to deliver improved performance and ROI, so the next round of investments is crucial.

The fact that your business has been using a private database cloud indicates that your workloads have been deemed too sensitive for public alternatives. This does mean that you have missed out on some of the additional benefits available when using public cloud though.

With Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer, the functionality and feature gap is narrowing. Which means that the next generation of private database cloud can deliver more for less. How much less? Oracle suggests a 47% reduction in the total cost of operations for starters, followed by a 256% return on investment over five years.

Simplified licensing

One of the biggest headaches associated with the private cloud has been licensing. Pooled resources allow for instant scaling according to need and application, but perpetual licenses are a fixed commodity – and you must have enough to cover usage at all times. This means buying additional licenses ‘just in case’ to meet occasional spikes in demand.

With Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC), licenses can be activated and released in line with demand – just like popular public cloud services. Your private cloud database can quickly scale from 2 to 400 cores and back again. You only pay for what you use, when you use it – and you never risk having the wrong number of licenses again.

Reduced management overheads

An in-house private cloud typically relies on a collection of technologies held together by custom scripts and management tools. Although they “work”, there is a lot of manual integration required to keep everything running.

Upgrading to ExaCC dramatically reduces management overheads. As part of the service, Oracle assumes full responsibility for managing infrastructure, reducing the burden on your IT team. Oracle clients report their management processes are 69% more efficient with EXaCC. This approach also ensures you are unaffected by the ongoing cloud skills shortage.

Cloud scale-out

Data storage and processing needs continue to increase year on year, placing an additional burden on the in-house infrastructure. You existing private cloud is still constrained by a finite pool of underlying infrastructure resources.

ExaCC provides optional automated scale-out capabilities, seamlessly linking on-premise private cloud with the hosted public cloud to extend capabilities for specified workloads. This allows you to increase resource usage beyond the constraints of your private database cloud as and when required, also billed on a pay-as-you-use basis.

Enhanced security

One of the key reasons for choosing a private cloud is the degree of control you maintain over applications and data. ExaCC helps to further de-risk the operating environment by bundling Oracle ‘defence in depth’ tools as part of the service.

Security safeguards are built into both hardware and software, with additional encryption included in the database engine. And it’s all a standard part of the ExaCC service.

Just scratching the surface

As public cloud feature sets continue to evolve, there’s no reason why the private cloud has to be left behind. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer brings many of the very best features to the local data centre – and delivers incredible benefits in the process.

To learn more about ExaCC and how you can generate an ROI on your private cloud investments in as little as six months, please get in touch.