IBM Case Studies Earth Signal: Helping clients strike oil with ultra-fast, ultra-dense computing

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	Earth Signal: Helping clients strike oil with ultra-fast, ultra-dense computing IBM

Earth Signal: Helping clients strike oil with ultra-fast, ultra-dense computing

IBM

Technology Category	Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries	Oil & Gas
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases	Predictive Maintenance
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Earth Signal Processing, a global leader in seismic data processing, was facing a challenge. Their clients in the oil and gas industry needed the results of their 2D and 3D seismic programs as quickly as possible to make informed decisions about land purchases and drilling locations. However, Earth Signal was constrained by the physical limits of its data center in terms of floor space and rack space. They needed to increase their data-crunching capabilities to meet the demands of their clients. The company was also under pressure to keep costs low, which meant they needed to find a solution that could maximize core and thread count within their existing infrastructure. Read More
About Customer	Earth Signal Processing is a global leader in seismic data processing. Founded in 1993, the company helps clients in the oil and gas industry to process their data faster and in greater detail to find new opportunities for profit. The company specializes in interpreting seismic data to construct models of what lies underground. All but the largest exploration firms engage partners like Earth Signal to perform 2D and 3D seismic programs and to process the results into a form their geologists can interpret. The company is based in Calgary and is known for its highly optimized Linux-based software. Read More
Solution	Earth Signal decided to deploy IBM Power Systems S822L servers with IBM POWER8 CPUs running Linux. This solution allowed them to maximize core and thread count within the physical limits of their data center. The company also ran tests which showed that the 2U IBM Power Systems solution could complete a job in 60 hours versus 100 hours for a 21U Xeon processor-based option, and using just 40 percent of the electrical energy. Earth Signal is now deploying a further two Power Systems S822L servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, each also with two 12-core POWER8 processors running at 3.01 GHz and offering up to eight threads per core. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Oil & Gas

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Earth Signal Processing, a global leader in seismic data processing, was facing a challenge. Their clients in the oil and gas industry needed the results of their 2D and 3D seismic programs as quickly as possible to make informed decisions about land purchases and drilling locations. However, Earth Signal was constrained by the physical limits of its data center in terms of floor space and rack space. They needed to increase their data-crunching capabilities to meet the demands of their clients. The company was also under pressure to keep costs low, which meant they needed to find a solution that could maximize core and thread count within their existing infrastructure.

About Customer

Earth Signal Processing is a global leader in seismic data processing. Founded in 1993, the company helps clients in the oil and gas industry to process their data faster and in greater detail to find new opportunities for profit. The company specializes in interpreting seismic data to construct models of what lies underground. All but the largest exploration firms engage partners like Earth Signal to perform 2D and 3D seismic programs and to process the results into a form their geologists can interpret. The company is based in Calgary and is known for its highly optimized Linux-based software.

Solution

Earth Signal decided to deploy IBM Power Systems S822L servers with IBM POWER8 CPUs running Linux. This solution allowed them to maximize core and thread count within the physical limits of their data center. The company also ran tests which showed that the 2U IBM Power Systems solution could complete a job in 60 hours versus 100 hours for a 21U Xeon processor-based option, and using just 40 percent of the electrical energy. Earth Signal is now deploying a further two Power Systems S822L servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, each also with two 12-core POWER8 processors running at 3.01 GHz and offering up to eight threads per core.

Impact #1	The new Power Systems servers are helping Earth Signal address the industry trend for processing larger sets of data.
Impact #2	The company's use of Power Systems and highly optimized in-house code enable it to handle large volumes of data and outcompete its multinational rivals.
Impact #3	The company expects to continue investing in IBM Power Systems for new clusters.

Impact #1

The new Power Systems servers are helping Earth Signal address the industry trend for processing larger sets of data.

Impact #2

The company's use of Power Systems and highly optimized in-house code enable it to handle large volumes of data and outcompete its multinational rivals.

Impact #3

The company expects to continue investing in IBM Power Systems for new clusters.

Benefit #1	Each POWER8 CPU outperforms five Intel Xeon CPUs on Earth Signal’s benchmark.
Benefit #2	The solution enables 20 times greater server density.
Benefit #3	The 2U IBM Power Systems solution could complete a job in 60 hours versus 100 hours for a 21U Xeon processor-based option, using just 40 percent of the electrical energy.

Benefit #1

Each POWER8 CPU outperforms five Intel Xeon CPUs on Earth Signal’s benchmark.

Benefit #2

The solution enables 20 times greater server density.

Benefit #3

The 2U IBM Power Systems solution could complete a job in 60 hours versus 100 hours for a 21U Xeon processor-based option, using just 40 percent of the electrical energy.

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Overview

Earth Signal: Helping clients strike oil with ultra-fast, ultra-dense computing

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit