Let us start with the hardware … well it’s not called POWER for nothing!
Power8 has 12 cores per socket compared to 8 cores per socket
on the previous generation Power7. With SMT 8 it can deliver
4 times more threads per core vs. commodity infrastructure.
This means the processor can run more concurrent queries in
parallel faster, across multiple cores with more threads per core.
The memory bandwidth has been increased to access up to
1 TB of memory for data operations and enlarged cache
in every processor with faster IO to ingest, move and access data.
POWER8 processing technology includes a unique capability called CAPI technology
- Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface technology. This means a new way to attach things.
It allows for accelerators such as GPUs, flash memory and networking to connect directly to the
processor, sharing the same address space and look like the CPU. This will dramatically simplify
attaching these accelerators. This improves performance, reduces latency, and results in more
throughput and, therefore, increased workload.
What is also nice is that if you are running AIX 7.1 TL3+SP or 6.1 TL9+SP then there is
no need to upgrade the operating system as you are Power8 ready.
IBM has re-focused on Linux for these new Power Systems with The OpenPOWER
Foundation. This is an open technical community based on the POWER architecture
with other members such as Google, Samsung, Hitachi and Ubuntu to enable collaborative
development to innovate and extend the capabilities of Power Systems.
IBM is targeting the scale-out Linux market with one and two-socket offerings and a
PowerKVM hypervisor to boost its competitive position against x86 hardware.
Also by leveraging the speed and agility of Power8 means ‘doing more with less’
so there are also economic advantages of having less hardware… less energy …
less cooling costs when compared to the server sprawl you get from small scale-out
x86 infrastructure.
So what is the bad news you ask? Well the larger enterprise or scale-up systems
will not be available until early next year so you are going to have to wait a while
longer before you can get your hands on this new kit but there’s nothing
stopping you from starting to plan today for a Power8 transition.
To Download the Power 8 Roadmap Click here
Should you require any further information regarding IBM POWER8, please
contact your Celerity Representative.
Neil Hulme, Technical Consultant, Celerity Limited
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