This week saw 2 significant pieces of 3PAR news released. The first that a new model has been added to the 20,000 range the 20,840. I have to admit when I first read this I had to check the date on the article as I was convinced there already was a 20,840. This now keeps the 20,000, range in step with the 8000 series in terms of the models available. The 20,000 series now lines up like this:
20,450 – 4 node all flash
20,800 – 8 node hybrid
20,850 – 8 node all flash
20,840 – 8 node converged flash
Those that remember the launch of the 7440 will also remember this was when HPE first started to use the term converged flash. The 20,840 is also being called converged flash and it basically means you get all the power of the all flash model but are also able to add spinning disk if you wish. There is no real need for any model to be all flash and denied the ability to use spinning disk but unfortunately hybrid players are effectively forced into that requirement to be considered an all flash model by Gartner.
In terms of specs looking at Quick Specs the 20,840 looks identical to the 20,850 in all aspects apart from its ability to support spinning disk. The 20,840 supports up to 3584 GiB cache per node v 1792 GiB on the standard hybrid 20,800. The new model will run the standard 3PAR OS and so management and feature set will be as seen on the other models.
At the same time HPE announced a new 8TB disk NL disk which will be available from the end of March. The new 20,840 model will be available for order and shipping immediately.
SPC1 result
Earlier in the week HPE announced they had put the all flash 8450 through its paces in the SPC1 benchmark. SPC1 is an independent industry test which measures a systems max IOPs and associated latency. The 8450 finished 10th overall with 545,164 max IOPS. The results are further split down taking into account the cost of the system, the 8450 was classified as a mid-range system and achieved the 2nd highest max IOPs in the mid-range category. The graph below plots how latency increases as each system gets closer to its max IOPs, the 3PAR 8450 is show in green.
In terms of performance v price 3PAR 8450 scored the best out of all systems tested. This test measures IOPs per dollar. This is basically total system price divided by max IOPs in SPC1 test, the results are shown in the chart below.
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