Whitepaper Virtustream and Atos: Utilizing Bullion Servers ... · ©2018 VIRTUSTREAM, INC. ALL...

©2018 VIRTUSTREAM, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WWW.VIRTUSTREAM.COM

Whitepaper

Virtustream and Atos: Utilizing Bullion Servers and the BullSequana S Series for Large Scale SAP HANA® Deployments

Virtustream, a Dell Technologies business, leverages Atos to deliver bullion and BullSequana S, the most powerful and flexible x86 servers in the world, for large scale SAP HANA systems. When the customer requirements dictate an SAP® certified HANA solution with more than 6TB of RAM, Virtustream implements these servers to provide the flexibility, scalability, security and reliability needed to successfully run a mission-critical SAP HANA system.Atos and Virtustream are no strangers to SAP HANA

solutions, in particular the use of SAP HANA for large scale

enterprises running in a cloud environment. As a core

piece of both Virtustream’s and Atos’ growth strategy,

SAP HANA is a key factor for both company’s present day

ambitions and will be instrumental to their future.

As part of Dell Technologies, Virtustream predominantly

uses Dell servers as part of its platform. However,

Virtustream uses bullion and BullSequana S servers for

solutions such as large, scalable HANA systems which

require an increased memory capacity for the in-memory

database (more than 6TB of RAM) for SAP

HANA deployments.

Deployed across existing Virtustream data centers

with several HANA clients already in production,

bullion servers from Atos are tested and validated

within Virtustream’s framework and xStream® Cloud

Management Platform to support large scale SAP

HANA systems.

Complementary to bullion, Atos’ BullSequana S series is

the only enterprise server with availability to leverage up

to 32 CPUs and expansion up to 32 GPUs. This technology

enables the GPUs to crunch through demanding cognitive

workloads while the CPUs handle traditional business

processing and managing. The BullSequana S series

specializes in powering Artificial Intelligence (AI) and

enabling businesses to rely on data and AI technologies

to adapt and tackle problems with new,

efficient solutions.

Along with their Virtustream partnership, Atos is a global

strategic partner with Dell EMC and Dell Technologies.

In partnership with Atos, Dell Technologies occasionally

implements bullion and BullSequana S servers in other

parts of its business to support specific needs not

available within the current Dell product line.

Virtustream and Atos

Enterprises that run large SAP HANA systems on bullion

or BullSequana S servers in the cloud with Virtustream

and Atos have selected a brand and platform which

can serve SAP HANA’s strategic demands. By offering a

highly scalable platform, enterprises can be assured that

their SAP HANA cloud environment can keep up with the

pace of their demands and growth while running on SAP

certified hardware.

SAP HANA is a key component in Atos’ future plans,

featured as one of their four key pillars for ambition and

growth. By working with Atos, Virtustream leverages the

advantage of working with a globally recognized SAP

http://www.virtustream.com

VIRTUSTREAM AND ATOS | P. 2


HANA certified partner. Atos has over 11,000 SAP experts

in 42 countries, supporting 1.4 million end users and

managing 130,000 servers in over 100 data centers. In

pursuit of growth on a large scale, Atos is heavily focused

on increasing S/4HANA implementations, SAP HANA

migrations, SAP HANA operations and bullion for SAP

HANA. Additionally, they aim to advance their already

existing SAP expertise and customer base while further

leveraging their competence in HANA Cloud Platform and

innovative solutions.

Virtustream’s SAP migration and deployment knowledge,

in conjunction with Atos’ renowned benefits, provides a

market leading strategic wherewithal that delivers the

deep knowledge base needed to successfully deliver

an SAP HANA cloud migration or implementation. With

deep expertise in SAP, Virtustream delivered the first

production SAP customer in a multi-tenant cloud and

the first production SAP ERP Central Component (ECC)

running on HANA in the cloud. With over 1000 SAP

instance migrations to Virtustream Enterprise Cloud,

Virtustream provides complete SAP portfolio coverage.

As one of the select SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC)

premium suppliers, Virtustream offers a wide variety

of certifications, including SAP certification for hosting

services, HANA operations and cloud services.

What are Bullion and BullSequana S Servers?

In late 2014, Atos acquired the French-owned IT service

provider called Bull Group, well-known for their high

performance computing, high-end servers, appliances

and mainframes. With this acquisition, Atos consolidated

cloud, cybersecurity and big data services under the Bull

brand, including the bullion servers.

Bullion and BullSequana S are the most tenable servers

on the x86 market, providing extreme scalability and

power when compared to the other market leading x86

servers. Certified for up to 16TB and 16 CPUs for large

scale SAP HANA systems, bullion provides the size and

availability needed to assure a successful infrastructure.

For generic purposes outside of SAP HANA, the bullion

server can also reach up to 24TB and the BullSequana

server up to 48TB memory.

When looking at the other servers of this magnitude on

the current market today, bullion stands out as one of

the clear front runners. For SAP HANA, Atos’ server is

one of few vendors worldwide that is SAP certified for

a 16-CPU/16TB system. As the best scalable SAP HANA

platform on the market today, bullion is the only hardware

provider able to grow from an XS offering (256GB) to an

XXL offering (48TB on BullSequana) using the exact same

server technology, meaning there is no ‘rip and

replace’ needed.

Bullion and BullSequana S servers have the DNA of

mainframe and scientific computing rolled into one

server. Bullion was the only European brand server

named in Gartner’s Magical Quadrant (MQ) for modular

servers. Available via global and local resellers worldwide,

bullion was recognized in the Gartner MQ as giving Atos

the ability to “leverage the fast-growing market for SAP

HANA and target other high-end x86 server requirements

beyond the scope of most other vendors.”1 The bullion

and BullSequana S for SAP HANA appliance are delivered

as a pre-integrated system of server and storage, offering

Red Hat or Suse for SAP HANA and SAP HANA software

pre-installed in their current versions.

Flexible Deployments with Bullion/BullSequana S and SAP HANA

Flexibility lies at the foundation of both Atos and

Virtustream. Large scale SAP HANA offerings using bullion

and BullSequana S servers provide flexible deployment

modes for SAP HANA including appliance mode and

Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI) mode.

TDI is a supported SAP program that enables re-use of

existing data center components, including storage and

networks. Most notably, this is done to optimize the total

cost of ownership (TCO) of SAP HANA implementations

and to ensure continuing return on investment. TDI mode

also allows the flexibility to use any storage technology

certified by SAP in its TDI program.

Appliance mode provides a fully managed, dedicated

environment, while delivering pre-integrated hardware,

storage and software for fast deployment, high

performance levels and a single support model.

1 Butler, Andrew, George J. Weiss, Kiyomi Yamada, Hiroko Aoyama.

“Magic Quadrant for Modular Servers”. Gartner. May 23rd, 2016.




Each bullion and BullSequana S server can be composed

of one or more modules. Modules can be added and

mixed in different SAP HANA server configurations,

allowing enterprises and cloud service providers like

Virtustream to re-use and protect their investment while

gaining a flexible and elastic SAP HANA platform.

Virtustream’s deployment

flexibility, when paired with

bullion servers, enables

enterprises to not only

run SAP HANA in a fully

off-premises cloud with

Virtustream Enterprise

Cloud, but save money

while doing so. Virtustream’s

patented MicroVM (µVM)

technology is a fine-grained

unit of measure designed to

meter and predict actual cloud consumption to enable

pricing flexibility. This grants enterprises a pay-as-you-go

payment structure that charges for only what

they consume.

This technology measures four dimensions of resource

consumption at the hypervisor level simultaneously,

which are then used to calculate the total MicroVM

consumption. These dimensions are:

∙ CPU Cycles in increments of 200MHz

∙ RAM in increments of 768MB

∙ Storage I/O in increments of 40 IOPS

∙ Network Bandwidth in increments of 2 Mbps

By eliminating waste with a pay-as-you-consume model,

MicroVM aggregation optimizes cloud cost by 10-40%

and improves an enterprise’s cost transparency.2

The partnership between Virtustream and Atos combines

adaptive bullion servers for large scale SAP HANA

systems with a true consumption-based pricing model

that simplifies cloud resource planning and eliminates

predefined virtual machine sizes. By presenting this

combination, an enterprise can feel comfortable trusting

the future of their SAP HANA platform in the hands of

a fully off-premises cloud with Virtustream Enterprise

Cloud while having certainty that the SAP certified

bullion servers they are running on can implement both

appliance and TDI mode.

SAP HANA TDI Phase 5

While appliance mode and TDI mode are both valid

deployments, SAP recently introduced HANA TDI Phase

5, the next evolution in the HANA platform. Phase 5

introduced two important changes to the HANA TDI

deployment approach that are key for enterprises to

understand prior to launch or cloud migration.

Prior to Phase 5, the type and number of the processors

required for an SAP HANA deployment were determined

by the total size of HANA memory. Hardware partners

of SAP certified their systems using a fixed core-to-

memory ratio, limiting the amount of flexibility provided

to enterprises and cloud service providers. However,

with the introduction of TDI Phase 5, the type and

number of processors required are now determined by

the specific customer workload. This specific, workload-

driven HANA system sizing enables enterprises to modify

their configurations to their exact workload needs and

optimize the number of cores needed to run their SAP

HANA applications.

Besides system sizing based on an enterprise’s exact

workload, support has also been extended for Intel E7

CPU processors. Previously, an enterprise’s choices were

limited to HANA systems with prearranged processor

types and a fixed number of cores and memory sizes.

With TDI Phase 5 in place, the flexibility that enterprises

and cloud service providers have with their HANA

system sizes, processor types, and number of cores has

increased, enabling them to use a wide range of CPUs

that could improve processing power and potentially

lower costs.

Using TDI deployment mode can provide a higher level of

flexibility and potential price reduction. Before deploying

as either appliance mode or TDI mode, enterprises

should evaluate how TDI Phase 5 can benefit their

enterprise-centric needs.

Scalability with Bullion/BullSequana S and SAP HANA

When it comes to scalability, bullion and BullSequana S

servers’ unique aspects enable different levels of scale-

up, scale-down infrastructure. Bullion and BullSequana

S servers have a modular stacking approach to simply

2 “The Virtustream µVM. Measurably Different. Measurably Better.”

Accessed April 6th, 2018. https://www.virtustream.com/pdfs/

VTS_MicroVM_infographic_final_3.pdf


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increase and decrease the infrastructure scale. This

up- and down-scaling supports using the same hardware

and same parts used in the previous structure. With

the bullion and BullSequana S server, enterprises and

cloud service providers avoid the typical ‘rip and replace’

approach of the existing server structure when the time

comes to scale-up to large sized configurations.

‘Rip and replace’ scale-up

operations are not only

complex, but can also be

costly, difficult, and time

consuming for both the

enterprise and the cloud

service provider. With bullion

and BullSequana S servers,

this complexity is simplified

tremendously with the

ability to scale in steps of 2

CPUs that provides a better,

more flexible growth plan for the future. By delivering an

optimized operation with one technology for all sizes, the

SAP HANA expansion of a company is no longer limited by

the infrastructure used to house its data.

For memory and I/O elements, enterprises and cloud

service providers can ‘hot add’ capacity quickly and easily

with Bull’s patented blade system. With this system,

enterprises and cloud service providers always have a

suitable configuration while managing costs by investing

gradually as business needs grow. This means providing

lowered handling time and system risk when involving

changing configurations and maintenance support.

When implementing bullion’s scalability in a cloud

environment, Virtustream presents the ability to run more

virtual machines (VMs) per rack compared to traditional

hardware (depending on workloads). This means

immediate cost savings and a lower carbon footprint for

enterprises rolling out large scale SAP HANA systems

in the cloud. Virtustream’s cloud based infrastructure

also enables companies to scale up and down as is

needed, presenting the ability to scale-up resources

during intensive development and scale-down when that

development ends.

One of the main concerns enterprises have with in-

house SAP HANA deployments is that it’s memory based,

meaning that in the first implementation phase they must

determine their memory and footprint requirements.

Proper SAP HANA sizing is mandatory. If sized too small,

enterprises risk needing more memory within a year

and being forced to move to another platform or server

model. The difficulties that come with forecasting an

enterprise’s HANA footprint can be a major problem for

large enterprises considering a SAP HANA deployment.

Companies need a machine which can meet system

requirements for several years and be able to follow the

growth of a user’s SAP HANA journey while providing

the scalability to accommodate changing

business requirements.

With Virtustream and Atos, enterprises have the elastic

scalability to buy what they need now, and then increase

the system as their enterprise grows. Through bullion

servers and the cloud scalability offered by running on the

Virtustream Enterprise Cloud, the need to determine what

an enterprise’s SAP HANA footprint will look like years in

the future becomes less daunting.

BullSequana S – The Next Generation

As a complement to bullion servers, Atos recently

released the BullSequana S series. The BullSequana S for

SAP HANA platform delivers unique flexibility, unmatched

scalability and best-in-class quality of service in the x86

world. Combined with expertise and value-added services

from Atos, BullSequana S forms an end-to-end solution

for successful SAP HANA deployments in even the most

critical environments, featuring Intel® Xeon®

Scalable processors.

The BullSequana S series is designed with the same goal

as Virtustream, to enable forward-thinking, data-driven

enterprises. Atos’ practical and industrialized approach

to effective innovation, coupled with Virtustream’s SAP

HANA expertise, ensures that the choices enterprises




make will drive business value. In addition to a focus on

SAP and SAP HANA, the BullSequana S series specializes

in AI and machine learning, cybersecurity and hybrid

cloud services.

Enterprises who are looking

to rapidly advance their

digital transformation can

leverage BullSequana S as an

instrumental tool for powering

enterprise AI, enabling them

to keep up with the evolving AI

landscape while extracting more value from their Internet

of Things (IoT) and increasing the performance of

existing applications.

With a pre-integrated platform, BullSequana S, paired

with Virtustream’s innovative cloud technology, boosts

enterprises’ data analytics and data lake while allowing

them to fine tune the platform for their business

specific requirements and simplify the lifecycle of new

applications. For enterprises who are preparing for

the future of SAP HANA, BullSequana S provides the

possibility to side classical CPUs with GPUs for

later developments.

Scalability, Flexibility, Reliability

The BullSequana S series provides a perfect blend of

scalability, flexibility and reliability to give enterprises

the speed they need. When combined with Virtustream’s

enterprise-class security and compliance, enterprises get

a fully protected cloud environment, enabling them to be

comfortable working with their most confidential data.

Scalable by Design

Having a scalable solution is critical for

enterprises introducing a small scale

deployment with the opportunity to

branch out and expand as the company

grows. With a mixture of Virtustream’s

scalable cloud infrastructure and the

BullSequana S technology, enterprises

can leverage a scalable and open

platform to grow their digital business in

the Virtustream Enterprise Cloud.

BullSequana S can scale up to 32

CPUs, 48TB RAM and 32 GPUs, enabling

investment preservation while powering

the most demanding environments. With the addition of

Virtustream’s elastic scalability, enterprises are delivered

exceptional performance with unparalleled agility while

being able to scale-up and scale-down on demand.

Virtustream and Atos together provide the adaptability

to change quickly, delivering a secure solution that fits

an enterprise’s specific needs. The scalability, availability

and serviceability of BullSequana S make it the ideal

scale-up platform for large enterprise applications and

in-memory computing.

Flexible Architecture

BullSequana S is certified for SAP HANA, whether in

appliance mode for fast deployment, backed by central

support and agreed performance levels, or in TDI mode.

Based on a flexible architecture, the BullSequana S server

range consists of 5 complementary models, based on the

Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor.

When working with

Virtustream, BullSequana S

servers enable each model

to be smoothly upgraded

when needed, preserving

investments and applicative

environments. This, in besides

the option of re-using existing

environments, enables TCO

reduction for enterprises who

select Virtustream for their

SAP HANA deployment.

Compared to classical environments, BullSequana S

provides up to 20% cost reduction for large cluster

virtualization and up to 30% price/performance gain

for small and medium SAP HANA landscapes.3 This cost

reduction and performance gain enables Virtustream to

deliver a deployment that fits an enterprise’s business

needs while reducing costs and providing the security

and compliance needed to run SAP HANA in a

cloud environment.

3 “x86 Enterprise Servers, “BullSequana S Series,” accessed April

6th, 2018. https://atos.net/en/products/enterprise-servers/

bullsequana-s


mailto:https://atos.net/en/products/enterprise-servers/bullsequana-s%20?subject=

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Mainframe-class Reliability

When dealing with in-memory, reliability and resiliency

are essential to having a successful SAP HANA solution.

Virtustream’s ability to provide secure, reliable software

and services ensures that an enterprise’s sensitive

data is safe at all times, regardless of location. Besides

Virtustream’s security and compliance certifications,

BullSequana S supports memory failure protection

and PCIe components that can be hot-plugged or

hot-swapped to facilitate maintenance activities while

providing best-in-class high availability.

Bullion, BullSequana S, SAP HANA and Virtustream

Through the Atos/Virtustream partnership, enterprises

who run large scale SAP HANA systems gain all the

benefits of bullion servers or the BullSequana S series

while running in a flexible cloud deployment with the SAP

certified Virtustream Enterprise Cloud.

As a leading enterprise-class cloud solutions provider,

Virtustream is one of SAP’s few global partners to achieve

SAP HEC certification. Virtustream is a provider of secure,

highly-available, consumption-based cloud services for

SAP HANA solutions, enabling enterprises, government

agencies and service providers to safely move any

production and mission-critical application to the cloud.

When working in unison with Virtustream’s leading

expertise in HANA, bullion and BullSequana S servers

provide the capability to smoothly run SAP HANA systems

to provide a multitude of benefits for the enterprise. The

innovative stacking system, extreme scalability and raw

power make the bullion server the most tenable server

on the x86 market, opening up the capability to grow the

infrastructure alongside the enterprise. Certified for up to

16TB and 16 CPUs for large scale SAP HANA systems, the

bullion server provides large enterprises the ability to toss

out the idea of ‘rip and replace’ and focus on the future of

their SAP HANA system. And as a complement to bullion,

the BullSequana S series is the only enterprise server

with availability to leverage 2-32 CPUs and expansion up

to 32 GPUs.

Atos and Virtustream together present the flexibility,

scalability, security and reliability needed to successfully

run SAP HANA in a cloud-based environment.

Contact

For more information about Virtustream, please

contact us at [email protected] or visit us at www.

virtustream.com.


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Virtustream, a Dell Technologies business, is the enterprise-class cloud service and

software provider trusted by enterprises worldwide to migrate and run their mission-

critical applications, such as SAP HANA, in the cloud. For enterprises, services

providers and government agencies, Virtustream’s xStream® Management Platform

and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) meet the security, compliance, performance,

efficiency and consumption-based billing requirements of complex production

applications in the cloud - whether private, public or hybrid.

Atos is a European IT services corporation headquartered in Bezons, France, with

offices worldwide. A global leader in digital transformation, Atos has approximately

100,000 employees in 72 countries and an annual revenue of around €12 billion. The

European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and

Digital Workplace, Atos provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management,

Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline,

the European leader in the payment industry. Atos is the Worldwide Information

Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the

brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline.

Bull, part of Atos, is the Atos brand for its technology products and software, which are

today distributed in over 50 countries worldwide. With a rich heritage of over 80 years

of technological innovation, 2000 patents and a 700 strong R&D team supported by the

Atos Scientific Community, it offers products and value-added software to assist clients

in their digital transformation, specifically in the areas of Big Data and Cybersecurity.

Bull is the European leader in HPC and its products include bullx, the energy-efficient

supercomputer; bullion, one of the most powerful x86 servers in the world developed

to meet the challenges of Big Data; Evidian, the software security solutions for identity

and access management; Trustway, the hardware security module and Hoox, the ultra-

secure smartphone.


Whitepaper Virtustream and Atos: Utilizing Bullion Servers ... · ©2018 VIRTUSTREAM, INC. ALL...

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