COESfx - SQL Server-based Data Acquisition
Texas Memory Systems solid state disks quietly power the world’s
most vital systems and companies, and COESfx is no different. COESfx, Inc.
offers an advanced trading and clearing platform for foreign exchange market
makers and direct access to foreign exchange markets.
The world’s financial institutions depend on COESfx for
uninterruptible access to markets and for the highest levels of performance,
especially during peak periods. COESfx, therefore, sought out an IT hardware
vendor that could provide the same, and TMS delivered.
The Challenge: Remove I/O Bottleneck
COESfx’s RAID storage was unable to keep up with the I/O-intensive
trading engine, powered by SQL Server. Feeds from 6 different financial
institutions were being held up by conventional storage, slowing down the
entire application.
“Even with a larger amount of cache, the RAID wouldn’t have been
able to do the job alone,” said Fred Hentschel, application administrator at
COESfx, “Since we needed the best performance, solid state disk was the only
choice.”
COESfx contacted TMS to eliminate their I/O bottleneck and
accelerate the application to its fullest extent. The RamSan-320 was selected
by COESfx for its combination of performance and reliability features.
The RamSan was directly connected to the application server via a
Qlogic 2342 host bus adapter. It was set up as a high speed buffer to acquire
the data streams and as a high-speed staging ground for the application server
to manipulate the data.
The Result: Immediate 40% Higher I/O Rate
According to Fred Hentschel, COESfx’s trading engine saw a 40%
increase in I/O activity. “Storage, simply, is no longer our bottleneck, and
our server utilization percentage is back up into the 90s.” The server can now
process 11 simultaneous data streams, which run through a pair of replicated
LUNs on the RamSan-320.
The application was successfully accelerated, but COESfx was also
impressed with the unit itself. Since the RamSan presents itself as a simple
disk to the network, setup generally consists of plugging it in, performing a
few basic configuration steps, and then copying data like any other storage
unit. “Setup was extremely simple and fast. We had the unit plugged in and
configured in just a few minutes, and the management features make continued
administration all but effortless.”
With such a positive experience, COESfx is realigning its long term
IT and competitive strategy to include solid state disks. They are already
budgeting for additional units as the need arises, and plan to leverage their
RamSan units as a competitive advantage and “selling point” in the market.
“When a single appliance increases your core business 40%, the executives
quickly take notice,” said Hentschel.
The RamSan provided unparalleled I/O, increased user satisfaction,
and a new competitive advantage to COESfx. Texas Memory Systems provides this
testimonial, confident that many other organizations could benefit in the same
way from using The World's Fastest Storage®
Contact sales@ramsan.com or request a price quote online.
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