Thursday, October 2, 2014

IBM's new server plan: Take on Intel, ride OpenPower

Summary: Now that IBM has sold its Intel-based server business to Lenovo, Big Blue is taking the gloves off and trying to take business from the chip giant by positioning its Power8 processors as a more open option.

IBM on Friday launched its first server based on the development efforts of the OpenPower Foundation, which includes Google, Nvidia, Samsung and Micron Technology.
A year ago, IBM started the OpenPower consortium, which was formed to break Intel's lock hold on the data center. The effort aims to build alternative systems based on IBM's Power efforts. Google earlier this year highlighted a Power-based prototype motherboard. 
Now that IBM has sold its Intel-based server business to Lenovo, Big Blue is taking the gloves off and trying to take business from the chip giant. With the launch of the Power S824L server, IBM is touting price and performance advantages over x86 servers and noting that Intel's development model is closed.
IBM's PowerSystems roadmap was set in April.
ibmpowersystems

OpenPower has 59 members globally.
The Power S824L server integrates Nvidia's GPU accelerator technology and IBM's Power8 processors.
powerserver
IBM also added a series of Power enterprise systems including the Power E870 and E880, which can include processing power up to 192 cores. The E880 is available with up to 128 cores and 16 TB of memory. The systems run Linux, AIX and IBM i.
The company added that its data engine for analytics and NoSQL applications are also available.

No comments:

Post a Comment