IBM’s
development of its Power9 architecture has been in the news for some time, and
now the company will make it available to other hardware companies by licensing
its designs. Power9 chips are scheduled to come in the market in 2H17. Let’s
look at some features of the new chips.
Intel’s
x86 versus IBM’s Power9
At
IDF (Intel Development Forum) 2016, IBM unveiled its Power9 server processors,
built on 14nm (nanometer) FinFET (fin-shaped field effect transistor) process
technology, just like Intel’s current server processors.
IBM
will also integrate Xilinx’s (XLNX) FPGA (field-programmable gate array)
technology in its servers, just like Intel is integrating Altera’s FPGA.
Features
of Power9
IBM
will launch Power9 in two basic designs: a 24 SMT4 processor and a 12 SMT8
processor.
The
24 SMT4 processor will be optimized for the Linux ecosystem and will target web
service companies such as Google (GOOG), which need to run across several
thousand machines. It will feature four threads.
The
12 SMT8 processor will be optimized for the PowerVM ecosystem and will target
larger systems designed for running big data or AI (artificial intelligence)
applications. It will feature eight threads.
Both
designs will come in two models: the scale-out model will come with two CPU
(central processing unit) sockets on the motherboard, and the scale-up model
will come with multiple CPU sockets. The Power9 processor will have multiple
connectors to attach FPGAs, GPUs (graphics processing units), and ASICs
(application-specific integrated circuits).
IBM
and Intel eye artificial intelligence
With
all this, IBM aims to make Power9 apt for AI, cognitive computing, analytics,
visual computing, and hyperscale web serving. Intel is also looking to tap AI
and has recently acquired an AI startup called Nervana Systems for this reason.
It has also recently developed Xeon Phi processors for deep learning
applications.
IBM
has changed its strategy in order to pose tough competition to Intel. We’ll
look at this strategy in the next part of the series.
