Case Study: Ustream achieves 500,000 IOPS and avoids server sprawl with Seagate Nytro Card

Ustream Drives Social Broadcasting Servers to the Limit with the Nytro Card

Ustream, the live interactive broadcast platform, was experiencing rapid growth and hitting the performance limits of its existing servers and storage, especially during viral video spikes that created highly random I/O demand. To avoid buying extra processors and storage “just in case,” Ustream looked for a way to boost performance while keeping server sprawl, power, and cooling costs under control. Seagate’s Nytro card was the product evaluated to help address this challenge.

Seagate’s Nytro card was integrated into Ustream’s front-end video-on-demand systems to accelerate random I/O and increase server efficiency without adding more nodes. As a result, Ustream can consistently deliver 500,000 IOPS from a single server, and the company believes it would have needed two additional servers to match that performance. Seagate also helped Ustream reduce hardware, management, and operating expense, while freeing up enough I/O headroom to optimize code further.

Ustream

Arpad Kun

Director of Network Operations