1. The TPC-Energy
Specification
July 2010
Presented by:
Mike Nikolaiev, Chairman of the TPC-Energy Specification Committee
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2. Agenda
• TPC mission and background
• TPC-Energy
• Meeting industry demand
• Price, performance and power
• Energy and SUT
• Energy Measuring System (EMS)
• Summary
• Backup
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3. TPC Mission and Background
• The TPC is a non-profit corporation founded to define transaction
processing benchmarks and to disseminate objective, verifiable
performance data to the industry
• Established in August 1988 by 8 leading software and hardware
companies
• Available benchmarks include:
• TPC-C: Online transaction processing (distribution centers)
• TPC-E: Online transaction processing (brokerage)
• TPC-H: Decision support for ad hoc queries
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4. Energy Spec: Meeting industry demand
• In the past, performance and price/performance were the key
criteria in data center purchasing decisions
• Energy efficiency has become another significant factor in evaluating
computing hardware
• To date, the TPC has developed nine distinct benchmarks, each
according to industry demand
• The Energy Specification is a continuation of the TPC’s work over
the past two decades
• The Energy Specification supplements the TPC’s existing benchmarks
• It is not a stand-alone benchmark
• Adds reporting of energy consumption while running the TPC
specific workload
• Adds reporting of energy consumption for subsystems.
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5. Energy Spec: Calls for standardized metrics
• Energy efficiency in the data center has become one of the top concerns for IT
managers
“Data centers perform computing functions vital to the U.S. economy, yet they require large amounts of
energy to operate. To support the growing demand for processing power throughout the nation, data
centers are using ever more compact and energy-intensive servers—even as the total number and size of
data centers continues to increase. This is creating a serious burden on the U.S. electric grid.”
-U.S. Department of Energy, April 2009
“The EPA is working with interested parties to identify ways in which energy efficiency can be
measured, documented and implemented in data centers and the equipment they house,
especially servers.“
- EPA, 2009
“As the cost of power grows significantly, the application of energy efficiency to systems
performance becomes a metric that cannot be ignored.”
- IBM, Oct. 2007
“The energy consumed by high-tech industries and institutions represents an attractive and often untapped opportunity
for energy savings. Characterized by large base-loads operating 24 hours a day with energy intensities much larger than
typical commercial buildings, high-tech buildings include laboratories, cleanrooms, and data centers.”
-Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2009
• Metrics that measure the application of energy efficiency against systems price and
performance are needed 5

6. Price, performance and power consumption
• The three most important criteria in IT purchases include:
• Performance
• Price
• Energy consumption
• Today’s complex IT environment demands that price and energy be put in
perspective of the performance
• Customers are increasingly requiring that Performance
100
price/performance and energy/performance
80
be provided for IT purchasing decisions 60
40
20
0
Energy / Price /
Performance Performance
TPC Benchmark Metrics
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7. Energy and SUT
Benchmark System Under Test (SUT)
• A System Under Test (SUT) should be similar to a typical customer installation
rather than highly tuned and customized to run a specific benchmark
• The TPC-Energy spec helps manufacturers provide energy usage
measurements, which mirror what an average user of a given system will
experience
• The metric requires components of the SUT to be commercially available
• The physical environment in which the test is conducted must also be
comparable to a typical data center with a minimum ambient temperature of
20 C
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8. First Publications including TPC-Energy results.
• Four results published by HP on June 21st, 2010
• Results included all the TPC Benchmark workloads (TPC-C, TPC-E, and TPC-H)
• TPC-Energy Publications:
TPC-C: HP ProLiant DL585 G7 = 5.93 Watts/KtpmC
(1,193,472tpmC @ $0.68 USD/tpmC, Availability: 9/1/2010)
TPC-H: HP ProLiant DL585 G7 = 9.58 Watts/KQphH@300GB
(107,561QphH@300GB @ $1.08 USD/QphH@300GB, Availability: 6/21/2010)
TPC-E: HP ProLiant DL585 = 6.72 Watts/tpsE
(1,400 tpsE @ $330 USD/tpsE, Availability: 6/21/2010)
TPC-E: HP ProLiant DL580 G7 = 5.84 Watts/tpsE
(2,001 tpsE @ $347 USD/tpsE, Availability: 6/21/2010)
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9. TPC-Energy Subsystem reporting
•Three results published by HP included measurements on the
Subsystems
•Subsystems energy consumption will vary by configuration and vendor.
•Communicates where efficiencies are most beneficial
•“Ready” Idle measurements are also included.
Secondary Metrics Additional Numerical Quanties
Full Load Full Load Full Load Idle Avg. Idle %
Watts / tpsE Avg Watts % of REC Watt Secs Watts of REC
Database Server 0.70 977.16 10.4% 7,035,581 790.73 9.7%
Storage 5.38 7,532.00 80.1% 54,230,426 6,502.56 79.9%
Application Server 0.54 763.04 8.1% 5,493,900 715.53 8.8%
Miscellaneous 0.09 131.23 1.4% 944,891 131.57 1.6%
Total REC 6.72 9403 100% 67,704,798 8140 100%
Total SUT Work 10,081,008
Reported tpsE 1400.14 MI Seconds 7200
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10. Energy Measuring System (EMS)
• The EMS is a TPC provided software package designed to help
manufacturers reduce the cost and difficulty of implementing the
TPC Energy Specification
• The EMS provides services for power instrumentation interfacing,
power and temperature logging, report generation and more
• The EMS is accessible via the TPC’s Web site (www.tpc.org)
• Customers will have more comprehensive data when selecting
data-processing systems
• Identify the energy consumption for vendors systems
• Understand subsystems energy as a part of the entire
configuration.
• Reduce costs while reducing energy consumption
• Compare advantages of each vendors particular offerings
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11. Energy Specification Summary
• The TPC’s Energy Specification is a continuation of ongoing efforts to
meet the needs of a rapidly changing industry
• Customers are able to go to the TPC Web site to identify systems that
meet their price, performance and energy requirements
• Systems that use less energy also have reduced cooling requirements
• Direct relationship between power usage and heat generation
• Subsystem energy reporting provides a breakdown of relative energy
usage of each subsystem (Application Server, Database Server,
Storage, and Miscellaneous Subsystems)
• Competitive environment to lead in best Watts / Performance will
stimulate innovation.
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12. Backup
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13. TPC: Providing the Most Credible Benchmarks in the Industry
• TPC is the only organization that provides consistent price-
performance scores
• All tests require full documentation of the components and
applications under test, so that the test can be replicated
• The TPC requires an independent audit of results prior to publication
• TPC tests the whole system performance, not just one piece
• TPC is database-agnostic: Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase, Microsoft SQL
Server, MySQL, ParAccel, Exasol and others
• TPC provides cross-platform performance comparisons, a view of
processor vs. real performance, technology comparisons and actual
cost of performance comparisons
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14. The TPC Today
• Volume of published TPC results continues to rise
• 21 Full Members companies
• 3 Associate Member companies
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