Oracle Exalytics X3-4 Provides Faster Data Analysis, More Memory and Storage

Oracle (News - Alert) is releasing the Exalytics X3-4 system, which features several improvements for business analytics.

The new version of the Exalytics appliance provides faster data analysis and improved memory and storage capacity, news reports said.

The Exalytics X3-4 has 2 TB of main memory, 2.4 TB of flash storage, and 5.4 TB of hard disk.

The Oracle Exalytics X3-4 system improves the ability to handle questions in advanced planning, burst reporting, data discovery, scenario modeling, and what-if analysis, the company said. The system leads to lower costs and is simpler to use than alternatives.

"Unlocking data in a quick, easy and timely manner can be a strong competitive advantage," Paul Rodwick, vice president of product management at Oracle, said in a company statement. "Oracle Exalytics X3-4 delivers powerful business analytics reinforcing our commitment to innovating and delivering maximum value through analytics by allowing our customers to spend less time on complicated integrations and more time providing real-time answers to strategic business questions."

The system can also analyze larger data sets. Flash memory leads to quicker calculations, and more storage capacity leads to 25 times more in load times and nine times improvement in calculation times – if multiple Oracle Essbase cubes are run at the same time. Oracle Exalytics is well-suited for larger mobile deployments. Users can improve productivity while working remotely, the company said.

Oracle Exalytics X3-4 includes Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, Oracle Endeca Information Discovery, Oracle Essbase, and Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database.

The improved technology was praised by users.

"Like most local governments, we're tasked to use our resources as wisely and strategically as possible. With Oracle Exalytics, we've improved the precision and speed of our budgeting and reporting, as well as significantly reduced our hardware footprint," Gautham Sampath, a technologist in Pinellas County, Fla., said in a statement quoted by TMCnet.  "By running Oracle Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition on two Oracle Exalytics systems, we've replaced 32 servers, allowing us to reduce our IT footprint and cost, devote less time on hardware upkeep, and spend more time enhancing our financial performance.”

In addition, the CIO of Ambulance Victoria, Cameron Crampton, said, "The key driver for the new solution is to be able to make more informed decisions in real time to improve patient outcomes and business decision making. Our research shows that our paramedics use the information that they have available very well. Our job is to make comprehensive, up-to-date information available in a way that will improve decision making at a patient and system level."

The hardware used in the Exalytics X3-4 sells for about $175,000, which is higher than the $135,000 for the X2-4, according to PC World.