Not limited to ERP applications alone, the Intel® Xeon® processor

Not limited to ERP applications alone, the Intel® Xeon® processor

Case Study
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 Family
Verification of SAP HANA* performance in the analysis of massive volumes of data
Not limited to ERP applications alone, the Intel®
Xeon® processor E7 family also provides new
business opportunities via in-memory technology
Real-time analysis of position and speed data from 13,000 taxis
Issues
• Real-time analysis of position information received from traveling vehicles
• High-speed processing of massive volumes of data
• Overseas deployment and application to other business fields
Solution
• Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family
• SAP HANA* in-memory analysis appliance
• Z enryoku Annai! and Zenryoku Annai! Navi advanced navigation services for mobile
phones and smart phones, respectively
• Ubiqlink Traffic Information System (UTIS)
Probe technology for analysis
of traffic congestion based on
data received from 13,000 taxis
operating nationwide
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Marunouchi Kitaguchi Building, 1-6-5
Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Established: April 1, 1965
Capital: 18.6 billion yen
(as of March 31, 2011)
Business activities:
Consulting
Financial IT solutions
Industrial IT solutions
IT platform services
http://www.nri.co.jp/
As one of Japan’s leading consulting
firms, Nomura Research Institute (NRI)
is a driving force in the economy of this
country. In finance, logistics, industry, and
the public sector, this highly professional
institute has developed a reputation for
cutting-edge solutions and quality, highend services. Some may be surprised to
learn that NRI also develops navigation
solutions for individual users. That said,
however, the service itself—Zenryoku
Annai ! — is very well known, and many use
it without realizing that it comes from the
Ubiqlink Department at NRI. In the pursuit
of a solution for high-speed, real-time
processing of massive volumes of traffic
information, this department conducted
testing to verify the performance of the
SAP HANA* in-memory analysis appliance
working with a server powered by an Intel®
Xeon® processor. The results of these tests
confirmed that 336-million items of data
acquired from approximately 13,000 taxis
could be analyzed in just over one second.
Aiming to contribute to the realization of a
highly convenient and productive ubicomp
society through the generation and delivery
of added-value position and time data, the
Ubiqlink Department is currently working
to expand its Zenryoku Annai! solution for
individual users and business solutions for
corporate clients.
What makes Zenryoku Annai! special is
the way in which it combines the VICS*
information used in standard SatNav systems
(i.e., data acquired from sensors setup at
fixed locations along roads) and traffic data
from NRI’s Probe technology with traffic
congestion information. In specific terms,
this Probe technology can generate road
traffic data by performing statistical analysis
on position and speed information acquired
from moving vehicles and pedestrians (see
Figure 1).
NRI’s Probe traffic information is
generated using location data provided
by approximately 13,000 taxis operating
in major urban centers throughout Japan
and by Zenryoku Annai! subscribers (who
have given permission for their locations
to be used). Taxis in particular can provide
Only with the Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family
does SAP HANA* achieve its maximum potential
a massive amount of data in a very short
time, and this stems from that fact that—in
contrast to privately owned vehicles—they
operate around the clock, 365 days a year,
and on all types of road.
“As the number of users of our
Zenryoku Annai! service continues
to grow, so too does the amount of
position and speed data collected;
accordingly, we must now process this
data faster than ever before. As such,
we look to the Intel® Xeon® processor
E7 family to deliver ever higher
levels of SAP HANA* performance
as advancements in processor
technology are realized.”
Aritaka Masuda
General Manager
Ubiqlink Department
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
By virtue of the fact that it combines VICS*
data from fixed sensors with Probe traffic
data collected from moving vehicles and
pedestrians, Zenryoku Annai! can analyze
road conditions much more accurately
and over a wider range than possible with
conventional SatNav systems. Aritaka Masuda,
General Manager of the Ubiqlink Department,
explains that “a significant number of SatNav
experts are also enthusiastic users of the highprecision navigation realized by the unique
Zenryoku Annai! position data”. Meanwhile,
agreements to provide navigation data for
apps from companies such as Toyota Motor
and GREE have also helped this high precision
service to grow in popularity.
The recent verification testing has played
a major role in convincing the Ubiqlink
Department that their current navigation
business has greater potential for growth by
not only sticking rigidly to the current growth
path, but by also expanding into totally new
fields of business. The details of this testing
are outlined below.
336-million items of data analyzed
in just over a second
As the number of smart phones in circulation
continues to spiral upward and the Ubiqlink
Department partners with more and more
services from other providers, Zenryoku
Annai! is enjoying rapid growth in its
subscriber base.
According to Mr. Masuda, “looking ahead to
the big data era when data more finely-tuned
to our needs than today’s mere chatter will
Differences between conventional SatNav and the Probe technology navigation system
Approach based on conventional SatNav (VICS*)
VICS*
center
Sensor
Conventional traffic data
Traffic data acquired from
sensors installed along roads
？
？
？
Road conditions only known
at locations of sensors
Traffic congestion
Approach using NRI’s Probe technology
(VICS* + Probe Technology)
Subscriber
NRI
Sensor
Partner taxi
Zenryoku Annai!
traffic data
Route suggested
by Zenryoku Annai!
No traffic congestion
VICS*
center
Traffic congestion
Congestion
Slight amount
of congestion
Partner taxi
With position and speed data
delivered from in-car units and
mobile phones, road conditions
can be determined much more
accurately than with VICS* data
alone (although VICS* congestion
data is also utilized).
No traffic
congestion
Travel time
determined
Subscriber
Congestion
Road conditions can be fully
determined
Figure 1.CEP in the spotlight as a solution for real-time analysis of massive amounts of traffic data
Aritaka Masuda
General Manager
Ubiqlink Department
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Kenji Honda
Senior Systems Analyst
Business Planning Group
Ubiqlink Department
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Masashi Kawamura
Assistant Manager
ERP Solution Business Department
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Zenryoku Annai! —The future of
mobile navigation
Verification environment
http://www.z-an.com/
Verification client
Software
Hardware
SAP HANA* server
Data Services server
Item
Details
HANA
SAP HANA* 1.0, revision 3
File system
GPFS
OS
SUSE* Linux* 11 ES SP1
Item
Details
Model
IBM* System x*3690 X5
CPU
Intel® Xeon® 7560 series processor
(2.26-GHz, 8-core)
Memory
64 GB
SSD
50-GB x 8 (RAID5)
HDD
SAS 146-GB x 8 (RAID10)
NIC
1Gbps×1
Figure 2.Verification environment powered by an IBM* System x*3690 X5 with an Intel® Xeon®
X7560 processor (2.26-GHz, 8-core)
become available at an instant thanks to
alliances with social networking services
such as Twitter* and Facebook*, there is
no doubt that the volumes of data we need
to process will grow at an exponential rate.
We must, therefore, be able to process even
more data in real-time.”
This explains why in 2010 NRI selected a
SAP HANA* in-memory analysis appliance
powered by servers featuring Intel® Xeon®
processors as its core system for analysis
of traffic data, becoming one of the first
companies in the world to install such a
system. Using massive amounts of data
of the same volume as anticipated for the
actual working environment, testing was
conducted to verify the analytic speed and
performance of the solution (see Figure 2).
As part of the verification process, static
position data from taxis was stored in SAP
HANA*, and then using a BI solution also from
SAP, the data extraction time was measured
(see Figure 3). Results showed that 600
items of data could be extracted from a
total of 336-million in just over one second.
In other words, what would normally take
several minutes in a RDBMS environment
could be completed in less than a second. In
real terms, the search speed was increased
by a factor of more than 1,800. These results
clearly substantiated the remarkable speed
and performance of analysis powered by inmemory technology.
In terms of the advantages of in-memory
technology, Kenji Honda, Senior Systems
Analyst at the Ubiqlink Department's
Business Planning Group, notes that, “in
addition to making real-time processing
possible, this approach simplifies traffic-data
generation logic”. In order to minimize dataextraction processing with the system used
to date for the generation of traffic data, 5
minutes’ worth of Probe traffic data, which
can run to up to 60,000 items per minute, is
handled as one block. Meanwhile, the area
coverage rate is increased by also looking
back at historical data from 5, 10, and 15
minutes earlier. In contrast, the higher speed
of data extraction processing achievable
with SAP HANA* means that Probe traffic
information no longer needs to be handled in
blocks, and even more, the historical data can
be processed on a continuous basis. Naturally,
large-scale simplification of generation logic
also vastly reduces the amount of computer
resources required to perform calculations.
Selection of SAP HANA* also draws
attention to the excellent reliability
of Intel® Xeon® processors
SAP HANA*—the appliance by NRI used
for verification testing—is the fruit of a
development project conducted jointly by
SAP and Intel over the course of a decade,
and it has been optimized to deliver the best
performance when used together with Intel®
Xeon® processors. Thanks to optimization at
the design stage, the servers used with SAP
HANA* feature an Intel® Xeon® X7500 series
processor, and by simply replacing this with
one of the latest models from the Intel® Xeon®
processor E7 family, the performance of the
SAP HANA* appliance can be enhanced by a
factor of 1.371 . That said, the ERP Department,
which led the installation of SAP HANA*, is
concerned not only with performance of
the Intel® Xeon® processor, but also with
versatility and reliability. Speaking about the
merits of SAP HANA*, Masashi Kawamura,
Assistant Manager at the ERP Solution
Business Department, remarked that, “rather
than using a proprietary server, this appliance
has at its core an Intel® Xeon® processor,
ensuring both versatility and the potential
for significant performance improvements
without delay whenever advances are made
in the related technologies”. He goes on to
say that, “while one might normally worry
A navigation app for mobile phones
and smart phones, NRI’s Zenryoku
Annai! uses built-in GPS functionality to
determine the user’s current location,
and it can then provide audio and visual
guidance from that location to any
selected destination. Whereas Zenryoku
Annai! itself provides comprehensive
navigation support via mobile phones
on the DoCoMo, au, and Softbank
networks, Zenryoku Annai! Navi is a
car or pedestrian navigation app for
iPhone* and Android* smart phones.
Other notable products in this range
are G-BOOK Zenryoku Annai! Navi and
Zenryoku Annai! Norikae—the former
operated together with Toyota Motor
and providing a wide range of navigation
services; the latter, an iPhone* app
specifically for planning rail journeys.
Combining Probe traffic information
and VICS* data in order to determine
the shortest route, ETA, and the like,
these navigation solutions offer a
higher degree of accuracy and precision
than the competition. Consider, for
example, Zenryoku Annai! Navi for the
iPhone*: this app costs 900 yen for
an annual subscription, and for that,
the subscriber gets car navigation,
pedestrian navigation, route searching,
route preview, map display, destination
searches, and Facebook* connectivity,
all as standard. If needed, meanwhile,
additional functions such as real-time
Probe traffic information support can
also be added.
Car navigation
Pedestrian
navigation
Basic settings
Car navigation route
preview
about the risk of memory-error problems with
in-memory technology, the latest models
from the Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family
have a reputation for excellent reliability in
preventing system failure due to memory
error thanks to their inclusion of MCA
functionality2 . It is quite conceivable that the
application of real-time processing will expand
beyond our navigation-related business and
into other areas of activity such as finance,
where reliability is paramount. From this
perspective, I am convinced that the Intel®
Xeon® processors and the reliability that they
deliver will ultimately afford this company
many new business opportunities.”
“Thanks to the results of our verification
testing, we now see much greater business
potential than ever before. Clients from the
retail and distribution industries are currently
looking for solutions that, for example, would
allow traffic information to be analyzed in a
segmented fashion for customers in specific
geographical or trade regions or would support
the matching of POS data and customer
information. In the past, it could easily have
taken several hours to process large volumes
of data, and for this reason, I suspect that many
clients ultimately abandoned the process
of data analysis; nevertheless, SAP HANA*
may well provide a way to offer fast, tailored
solutions to these clients.”
of information combining SNS and position
data will need to be analyzed, and we must,
therefore, verify the processing speed of the
analysis logic in advance”.
Meanwhile, the Ubiqlink Department is also
looking into launching a Zenryoku Annai!
service overseas. In terms of this move,
Aritaka Masuda remarks that “many emerging
nations have no traffic and travel information
system similar to VICS*, and in this type of
situation, Probe traffic data could be the
perfect alternative. We would expect to see
demand for Probe traffic data particularly in
the countries of Southeast Asia, where car
and mobile-phone ownership is growing at a
breakneck pace; furthermore, if an in-memory
analysis appliance powered by processors
from the Intel® Xeon® E7 family in the same
way as SAP HANA* were to be applied, the
specific needs of these markets—including
cost—could very likely be answered.”
As described above, the recent verification
testing confirmed a boost in performance by
a factor of 1,800, meaning that processes
normally taking several minutes could be
completed in a second. Spurred on by these
results, NRI no longer sees speed of growth
alone as the key factor in developing the
current business—instead, the potential of
services offering more added value, of faster
expansion into overseas markets, and of new
applications in different fields of business
has also come into view. At NRI—a global
trailblazer in the installation of SAP HANA*—
expectations are high for new business
opportunities made possible by in-memory
technology and the Intel® Xeon® processors
at its core.
SAP HANA* verification by NRI
Verification assuming the application of SAP HANA* to traffic-data generation processing
Verification environment
Data
acquisition
Data
Services
SAP
Business Objects
Explorer
SAP HANA*
Taxi
radio
Extraction and calculation
Actual environment
Instantaneous
Further verification for practical
application of SAP HANA* toZenryoku
Annai! , and overseas expansion
Data copied
Zenryoku
Annai!
Traffic data
generation
Mobile phone
network
Vehicle
data
Servers
Probe
data
B FLET'S
Using the results of the recent verification test,
NRI plans to further evaluate application of
SAP HANA* to Zenryoku Annai! by conducting
additional tests more representative of actual
operating situations. According to Kenji Honda,
“there will come a time when massive amounts
New business opportunities
unlocked by the revolution that is
in-memory technology
Traffic data
generation
Statistical
processing
Route
delivery
Traffic data
generation
Taxi company office
Area-specific distributed processing
Real-time traffic
information and
forecasts
Figure 3. Position and speed data from 13,000 taxis operating nationwide was stored in SAP
HANA*, and data extraction time was measured using a SAP BI solution.
For more information on the Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family, please
visit the following web site.
http://www.intel.co.jp/jp/products/server/processor/xeonE7/
Source: Performance enhanced by almost 37% and reliability levels raised even further! SAP HANA gets a new boost from Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family. (ftp://download.intel.com/jp/business/japan/
pdf/325645-001JA.pdf)
1
The Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family features Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery, meaning that were an error to be detected, the operating system could make the necessary corrections
without having to stop the server. http://www.intel.com/jp/business/video/vi030_sap_hana.htm
2
Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference
in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they
are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit Intel Performance Benchmark Limitations. Intel does not control or audit the design
or implementation of third party benchmark data or Web sites referenced in this document. Intel encourages all of its customers to visit the referenced Web sites or others where similar performance
benchmark data are reported and confirm whether the referenced benchmark data are accurate and reflect performance of systems available for purchase.
This paper is for informational purposes only. THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT,
FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL, SPECIFICATION, OR SAMPLE. Intel disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement
of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted herein. Intel disclaims
all liability, including liability for infringement of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual
property rights is granted herein.
Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
C opyright
©
2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.
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