Dimension Data’s cost effective, secure, reliable, and high performance cloud computing service has been put to the test. According to Tolly Group’s proven benchmarks report, Dimension Data can accelerate your clients’ adoption of public and private cloud. Dimension Data offers a network-centric cloud approach which provides clients with automated and self-service control of Cisco based computing and networking. Below are some examples of how we compete with other cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services, IBM Smartcloud, and Rackspace: 1. Proof point: Of all Dimension Data’s cloud services clients, 40% trust Dimension Data’s Cisco Powered platform to run production applications. 2. Proof point: Dimension Data client, Glassbeam, saves 50% on annual operating costs by migrating Glassbeam’s SaaS applications from an internal dedicated server environment onto Dimension Data’s virtual cloud platform. 3. Proof point: After evaluating a host of cloud service providers, HR benefits provider, ClearBenefits, chose Dimension Data to deliver 99.9% reliability for their SaaS application. The report is also posted at www.cisco.com/go/cloudforpartners located under Technology Partners.

1. Dimension Data Public Compute-as-a-Service (CaaS)
Infrastructure-as-a-Service: Cloud Server & Network Performance vs. Amazon, IBM and Rackspace
TEST HIGHLIGHTS
2 Delivered over twice the memory throughput as
thenearestcompetitorand5XthatofAmazon
1 Completed the CPU-intensive test faster than
AmazonandRackspaceinallcategories
4 Delivered true Gigabit Ethernet-class throughput -
6.5XthatofAmazonand9.6XthatofRackspace
Delivered file I/O performance 3X to 6X that of the
otherofferings
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The emergence of cloud computing as a viable path for implementing
enterprise-class computing solutions brings with it many opportunities. Cloud
computing also challenges prospective customers to understand the actual
performancedeliveredbyvarioussolutionproviders.
Dimension Data commissioned Tolly to benchmark the system performance
and networking throughput of web/app servers running on its public cloud
solution and compare them to similar configurations running on platforms
offeredbyAmazonWebServices,IBMandRackspace.
Testing included benchmarking key system resources and network throughput
across three categories of web/application cloud servers. The Dimension Data
cloud servers showed consistently high performance across the range of
resourcesbenchmarked. ...<continuedonnextpage>
Source: Tolly, May 2013
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 1 of 7Tolly.com
#213131
July 2013
Commissioned by
Dimension Data
Linux Cloud Server CPU Performance
C-Ray 1.1 Benchmark
(as reported by Phoronix Test Suite 3.6.1)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
144
289
101
190 227
433
909
141
284
606
BenchmarkCompletionTime(seconds)
Dimension Data Amazon Web Services IBM SmartCloud Rackspace
Notes: For Amazon Web Services, the number shown is the number of EC2 units. Neither IBM nor Rackspace offers a 1 vCPU solution.
IBM running RHEL 6.3, all others running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server. All systems were 64-bit.
Small
1 vCPU
Figure 1
Medium LargeSystem
Category
2 vCPUs 4 vCPUs
909
DimensionDataCloudServers:
Lower numbers are better

2. While there is no industry standard for
sizing of servers, most servers are defined
by the key resources of CPU and memory.
These tests were run across three
categories of systems defined by the
following virtual CPU (vCPU) and system
random access memory (RAM)
configurations found in parentheses after
each designation: Small (1/2), Medium
(2/4), and Large (4/8). It was not always
possible to match these requirements so
the closest configurations were used and
noted. Ubuntu 10.4 Server was the primary
test platform. Since IBM does not offer that
platform, Red Hat EL 6.3 was used for IBM.
For Amazon, m1 instances (small, medium,
large) were used. All Rackspace servers
wereNextGeneration.
The open-source Phoronix Test Suite (PTS)
was used to benchmark CPU, memory and
file capabilities. Iperf was used to
benchmarknetworkthroughput.
Test Results
CPU
The PTS C-Ray benchmark is a compute-
intensive program and, simply put, a more
powerful CPU will complete the
benchmarkfaster.
The Dimension Data servers completed the
test faster than Amazon and Rackspace
systems in all categories, second only to
IBM. (IBM and Rackspace do not offer
1vCPU servers.) In fact, Amazon took 50%
longer than Dimension Data to complete a
series of compute-intensive tests. See
Figure1.
Memory
The PTS RAMSpeed benchmark drives
system memory operations. Dimension
Data outperformed all other solutions
across all categories. The results were most
dramatic in the large system category with
Dimension Data delivering over twice as
great memory throughput as the nearest
competitor and over 5 times the
throughput of the Amazon solution.
Dimension Data had significantly dramatic
performance benefits over Amazon in the
otherconfigurationstested.SeeFigure2.
Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 2 of 7Tolly.com
Tested
May
2013
Dimension Data
Infrastructure-
as-a-Service
Cloud Server &
Network
Performance
Dimension Data Amazon Web Services IBM SmartCloud Rackspace
Source: Tolly, May 2013 Figure 2
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
7,818
6,522
8,772
9,985
3,200
2,523
1,225
18,542
10,831
3,110
MemoryOperationsPerSecond(Average)
Linux Cloud Server System Memory Performance
RAMSpeed 3.5 Benchmark
(as reported by Phoronix Test Suite 3.6.1)
4 GB RAM
2 GB RAM
8 GB RAM
Note: Neither IBM nor Rackspace offers a 1 vCPU solution.
IBM running RHEL 6.3, all others running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server. All systems were 64-bit.
Medium LargeSmallSystem
Category
8,772
18,542

3. File I/O
The PTS PostMark benchmark measured
small file transaction performance on the
local disk using the default file system for
each solution. The Dimension Data cloud
server file performance exceeded all other
cloud providers by 3X to 6X. Dimension
Data’s file I/O, as measured by transactions
per second, of 3,472 was 2.7X that of
Amazon and 5.4X that of Rackspace for a
mediumsystem.SeeFigure3.
NetworkThroughput
This test used the open-source Iperf
network benchmarking program to
measure the bidirectional network
throughputbetweenapairofcloudservers
on the same internal data center network.
Default configurations were used for each
solution.Eachsystemundertestwaspaired
with an Iperf partner system configured to
match the large configuration. This
maximized the throughput of the solution
undertest.
Where the various vendors were typically
specific about the CPU and memory
resource provided with each server
category,thatwasnotusuallythecasewith
the characteristics of the network interface.
As the LAN capability is also virtualized,
actual throughput can be much lower than
the nominal “Gigabit Ethernet” (GbE)
interfacethatistypical.
Cloud vendors can limit the maximum
throughput of a virtual network interface
using readily available rate limiting
functionality. In contrast, vendors with
10GbE backbone links can make that
bandwidth available to the nominal GbE
interface.
The maximum throughput of a physical
GbE port is 2Gbps of bidirectional traffic.
The ports are full-duplex and a full stream
of1Gbpstrafficcanflowineachdirection.
For this test, Tolly engineers included the
small instance from Rackspace even
though it was a 2vCPU instance to
determinewhatnetworkthroughputcould
be expected from that category of
Rackspace server. (The Amazon and
Dimension Data instances were 1vCPU
systems.)
The results show that only Dimension Data
delivers true Gigabit Ethernet-class
throughput - providing greater than 1Gbps
of throughput even in the small category.
Dimension Data’s network throughput of
2.25Gbps is 6.5X that of Amazon and 9.6X
thatofRackspace.
In fact, across all server categories,
Rackspace appears to apply severe rate
limiting. The comparison with Dimension
Dataisquitedramatic.
Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 3 of 7Tolly.com
Source: Tolly, May 2013 Figure 3
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
659642 527
684
1,3421,278
402
3,4723,472
1,448
TransactionsPerSecond(Average)
Dimension Data Amazon Web Services IBM SmartCloud Rackspace
Linux Cloud Server Local File Performance
PostMark 1.51 Benchmark
(as reported by Phoronix Test Suite 3.6.1)
2 vCPUs/4 GB RAM1 vCPU/2 GB RAM 4 vCPUs/8 GB RAM
Note: Neither IBM nor Rackspace offers a 1 vCPU solution. Default file systems used: ext4 for Dimension Data, ext3 for the other solutions.
IBM running RHEL 6.3, all others running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server. All systems were 64-bit.
Medium LargeSmall

4. For medium systems, Dimension Data’s
throughput 3.26Gbps is 9X times that of
Rackspace. For large systems, Dimension
Data’s throughput of 4.46Gbps is 9.3X that
ofRackspace.
Dimension Data’s network throughput in
each category is actually greater than or
equal to the combined throughput of the
othersolutions.
IBM is the closest competitor providing
close to a full, bi-directional GbE
connection in the medium and large
scenariostested.
Amazon’s medium and large server
instances both provide between 1 and
1.2Gbpsofnetworkthroughput.SeeFigure4.
Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 4 of 7Tolly.com
Source: Tolly, May 2013 Figure 4
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
479377233
1,8641,834
1,244
1,052
344
4,463
3,260
2,252
BidirectionalThroughputPerSecond(Avg.Mbps)
Dimension Data Amazon Web Services IBM SmartCloud Rackspace
Linux Cloud Server Bidirectional Local Area Network Performance
Iperf Benchmark
(as reported by Iperf 2.0.4)
Note: Neither IBM nor Rackspace offers a 1 vCPU solution. For this test, the Rackspace“small”machine has 2vCPUs and 2GB RAM. All tests run with a
“large”system as a partner across low-latency, internal network. Throughput can exceed GbE because of 10GbE back-end trunking.
IBM running RHEL 6.3, all others running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server. All systems were 64-bit.
Medium LargeSmall
2 vCPUs/4 GB RAM1 vCPU/2 GB RAM 4 vCPUs/8 GB RAM
Founded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an ICT services and solutions
provider that uses its technology expertise, global service delivery
capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to accelerate the business
ambitions of its clients. Dimension Data offers a versatile suite of
cloud services that are capable of meeting the demands of Service
Providers, developers, IT managers, or global CIOs. We build superior
solutions that take the complexity out of‘the cloud’with developer
and IT-friendly cloud services that are fast, secure, easy-to use
scalable enough to run complex, high-performance applications.
For more information, visit us at www.dimensiondata.com/cloud.
About Dimension Data
Source: Dimension Data

5. Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 5 of 7Tolly.com
Web/Application Cloud Servers Under Test
Virtual Hardware Configuration
(as reported by Phoronix Test Suite 3.6.1)
Source: Tolly, May 2013 Table 1
Solution
Provider
System Category
Small Medium Large
Dimension
Data
Amazon
IBM
Rackspace
Processor:IntelXeonE7-4830@
2.13GHz(1Core),Motherboard:Intel
440BX,Chipset:Intel440BX/ZX/DX,
Memory:1x2048MBDRAM,Disk:11GB
Virtualdisk,Graphics:VMwareSVGAII,
Network:Intel82545EMGigabit
Processor:IntelXeonE7-4830@
2.13GHz(2Cores),Motherboard:
Intel440BX,Chipset:Intel440BX/
ZX/DX,Memory:1x4096MB
DRAM,Disk:11GBVirtualdisk,
Graphics:VMwareSVGAII,
Network:Intel82545EMGigabit
Processor:IntelXeonE5-46500@
2.70GHz(4Cores),Motherboard:Intel
440BX,Chipset:Intel440BX/ZX/DX,
Memory:1x8192MBDRAM,Disk:11GB
Virtualdisk,Graphics:VMwareSVGAII,
Network:Intel82545EMGigabit
Processor:IntelXeonE5430@2.67GHz
(1Core),Memory:2048MB,Disk:8GB
(m1.smallinstance1EC2ComputeUnit)
Processor:IntelXeonE5430@
2.66GHz(1Core),Memory:
4096MB,Disk:8GB
(m1.mediuminstance2EC2
ComputeUnits)
Processor:2xIntelXeonE5430@
2.66GHz(2Cores),Memory:8192MB,
Disk:8GB
(m1.largeinstance4EC2ComputeUnits)
N/A
(ThesmallestIBMconfiguration
matchedthe2vCPU/4GBRAM
“medium”systemcategory.)
Processor:QEMUVirtual@2.40GHz
(2Cores),Motherboard:RedHat
KVM,Chipset:RedHatVirtio,
Memory:1x4096MBRAM,Disk:
59GB,Graphics:CirrusLogicGD
5446,Network:RedHatVirtio
device
Processor:QEMUVirtual@2.27GHz(4
Cores),Motherboard:RedHatKVM,
Chipset:RedHatVirtio,Memory:
8192MB,Disk:59GB,Graphics:Cirrus
LogicGD5446,Network:RedHatVirtio
device
Processor:AMDOpteron4170HE@
2.10GHz(2Cores),Memory:2048MB,
Disk:79GB (NextGeneration)
(Used for network performance
testing only.)
Processor:AMDOpteron4170HE@
2.10GHz(2Cores),Memory:
4096MB,Disk:158GB(Next
Generation)
Processor:AMDOpteron4170HE@
2.10GHz(4Cores),Memory:8192MB,
Disk:315GB(NextGeneration)
Note: Hardware as detected by Phoronix Test Suite may not match virtual hardware environment as documented by the solution provider.
Except for IBM, all systems ran Ubuntu (Linux) 10.04 LTS Server (64-bit), Kernel: 2.6.32-33-server.
As IBM did not offer that image, IBM ran Red Hat Enterprise Server (Linux) 6.3 (64-bit), Kernel 2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64.

6. Test Setup &
Methodology
Cloud Servers
Tolly engineers built all cloud servers under
test using publicly available cloud server
solutions from each vendor with default
configurationsfromeachvendor.
Testing was conducted on three categories
of servers based primarily on the number
of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) provided and,
secondarily, on the amount of memory
(RAM)provided.
The system categories were defined as: 1)
Small - 1vCPU, 2GB RAM; 2) Medium -
2vCPUs, 2GB RAM; 3) Large - 4vCPUs, 8GB
RAM. For Amazon Web Services, the
equivalent Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
(EC2) unit was used.1 Default file systems
were used: ext4 for Dimension Data, ext3
forallothers.SeeTable1.
All servers were instantiated in a North
American data center for the respective
solution. Furthermore, and of importance
forthenetworkperformancetests,allcloud
servers for a given provider were
instantiatedinthesamedatacenter.
Except for IBM, all systems under test ran
Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS Server. Because
IBM did not offer this image, IBM servers
ranRedHatEnterpriseLinux6.3.SeeTable1.
System Resource
PerformanceTests
PhoronixTest Suite
The CPU, RAM and File transaction tests
were all run using the Phoronix Test Suite
(PTS). PTS is an automated, open-source
testing framework. For more information,
see:http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/.
PTS version 3.6.1 was used in this test.
Virtual hardware shown (in Table 1) as
determined by the PTS “Show System
Hardware” function.
Testers chose tests from the PTR “Complex
System Test” category. The tests are
automated and repeated automatically
until there are sufficient repeated runs with
alowstandarddeviationinresults.
CPU
CPUpowerwasdeterminedbyrunningthe
PTS C-RAY 1.1 benchmark. According to
OpenBenchmarking.org, the program is a
simple ray tracer that tests floating-point
CPU performance. A more powerful system
will complete this test faster. Thus, a lower
numeric result (i.e. shorter run time)
equatestoabetterscore.
RAM
System memory performance was
determined by running RAMSpeed SMP
3.5.0(PTSv1.4.0).
Local File Input/Output
Local file transaction performance was
determined by running PostMark 1.51 (PTS
v1.1.0).AccordingtoOpenBenchmarking.org,
this test is designed to simulate small file
tasks typical of web and email servers. File
sizesrangefrom5KBto512KB.
NetworkThroughput
Local area network (LAN) throughput tests
were conducted using Iperf, an open
source network benchmarking tool
availableatSourceForge.net.
All network throughput tests were run on
pairsofmachineswithonemachinealways
running the “large” instance. All machines
were configured to be in the same data
center and testers confirmed that minimal
latencyexistedbetweenthepairsofservers
undertest.
Tests were run on the private/service
networks for AWS, Dimension Data and
Rackspace. IBM offers only a single, public
addressfortheserverstested.
Iperf
Iperf is implemented as a command-line,
client-server architecture with all data
beingtransmittedclient-to-server.Tocreate
bidirectional traffic,, each server ran both a
client instance and a server instance. Tests
were run 5 times with each test set for 60
seconds.2
The server instance was configured: Iperf -s
-p 10000 -w 32M&. The client instance was
configured: Iperf -c x.x.x.x -p 10000 -t 60 -P
20-w6M,wherethex.x.x.xwasreplacedby
theIPaddressofthetargetserversystem.
Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 6 of 7Tolly.com
1 For a more detailed explanation of EC2, see: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance types/.
2 Because each “end” of the Iperf session calculates throughput relative to its perceived run time, results could vary by approximately 3 5%
when viewed on opposite ends of the session connection.

7. Dimension Data Cloud Server Performance #213131
© 2013 Tolly Enterprises, LLC Page 7 of 7Tolly.com
About Tolly
The Tolly Group companies have been
delivering world-class IT services for more
than 20 years. Tolly is a leading global
provider of third-party validation services
for vendors of IT products, components
andservices.
You can reach the company by E-mail at
sales@tolly.com,orbytelephoneat
+1561.391.5610.
VisitTollyontheInternetat:
http://www.tolly.com
213131-EF1-wt-2013-06-13A-VerI
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investigation for your particular needs. Any decision to purchase a product must be based on your own assessment of suitability
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evaluation was focused on illustrating specific features and/or performance of the product(s) and was conducted under controlled,
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Reasonable efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the data contained herein but errors and/or oversights can occur.The test/
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Dimension Data Cloud Services
For more information about Dimension Data’s Cloud Services,
E-mail us at cloud-info@dimensiondata.com or visit us at
http://www.dimensiondata.com/cloud.