“The need for availability is continuing to grow, as customers rely more on their IT infrastructure to support revenue generation”

David Laurello, CEO, Stratus Technologies talked to Nivedan Prakash about trends in server technology and the company’s partnership with Intel and Microsoft with respect to the ftServer platform

What trends do you see in the server technology space?

In terms of server technology trends, the need for availability is continuing to grow, as customers are relying more and more on their IT infrastructure to support their revenue generation activities. Customers today need their applications running 24x7 to support these activities.

The other trend is that customers are virtualizing and reducing the number of servers that they have to lower their power, utility and real-estate costs; and on top of everything, their IT expenditure.

When you adopt virtualization, you put everything in one basket and, at the same time, you want your server to be highly available. Virtualization basically creates a model where customers and users are deploying a new application into a virtualized environment rather than deploying a new server every time.

We are also witnessing the large scale adoption of cloud computing—both public and private clouds. These clouds will have virtualization as a key element and, again, there would be the need for high availability.

Tell us about your new ftServer line based on Intel’s Nehalem micro-architecture?

We recently announced the fifth-generation Stratus ftServer line, delivering industry-standard, no-compromise continuous availability for business and mission-critical Windows applications. The ftServer 2600, 4500 and 6300 models, based on Intel Xeon 5500 ‘Nehalem’ processors, are one- and two-socket servers delivering quad-core processing power for full-function fault-tolerant computing right out of the box. Applications run with no software modification or failover scripting required, benefit immediately from the processing power of all eight logical cores and nearly 99.9999% availability.

Compared to previous models, the new systems offer the first fault-tolerant implementation of Intel Xeon 5500 processors; the first fault-tolerant implementation of QuickPath Interconnect Technology for dynamically scalable interconnect bandwidth and outstanding memory performance to address a wider spectrum of database requirements; up to triple the memory at 96 GB; eight pairs of 2.5” internal SAS disks for up to 8 TB of physical storage; and an integrated virtual technician module for proactive fault notification, remote system access, and improved online upgrading.

Requirements for unfailing uptime reliability continue to increase, driven by virtualization technology, global e-commerce, worker mobility, real-time collaboration and data management, and the punishing cost of application downtime. Availability lapses, for e.g., during food or drug manufacturing, funds handling, patient care or records access, waste treatment operations, etc. can have serious health, safety and financial consequences, including regulatory violations and fines. Stratus ftServer systems are field-proven to deliver the industry’s best protection against unplanned downtime and data loss.

How does Microsoft SQL Server 2008 work with ftServer?

This software/server combination delivers a robust, continuously available infrastructure that scales with a customer’s business requirements and delivers predictable performance to users accessing critical business applications. Stratus delivers level-one support to customers who purchase the database software from us, with escalation as needed to Microsoft; Stratus also services the server and the OS, representing a single point of customer contact for rapid issue resolution.

Running Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise Editions, the Stratus ftServer platform reliability surpasses comparable competitive database implementations using standard x86 servers at a fraction of the cost. Compared to alternative hardware failover configurations, the ftServer system is completely self-contained and ready to work out of the box with no software modifications and scripting required. By improving the simplicity of operation and removing the need to cluster for node availability, the user is freed up to take greater advantage of the flexibility and enterprise features of SQL Server.

What are your plans for the Indian market?

We are setting up a subsidiary in India. We already have a large installed base here and we are trying to leverage the same to enter a new segment.