OpenPOWER Consortium

The OpenPower initiative offers Power hardware and software for use in open development, as well as intellectual property for licensing, thereby significantly expanding the range of developers on this platform. The OpenPower Consortium (OpenPower Consortium), formed in 2013, provides its participants with the opportunity to use Power hardware and software tools responsible for managing the basic functions of the chip. Thus, the OpenPower Consortium provides developers with flexibility in the process of creating new server hardware configurations for various levels of computing load.

"The founding companies of the OpenPower Consortium represent a new generation in the field of building innovative data centers," comments Steve Mills, senior vice president and CEO of IBM Software & Systems. - "Combining our potential and resources around the POWER architecture will help improve the application of innovative solutions in the industry. For the first time, developers have access to an expanded set of server technologies, and this "collaborative development" model will change the design and deployment of data center hardware. "

"We are excited to participate in the OpenPower Consortium and in its work to implement innovative ideas, as well as improve the performance and efficiency of advanced data center solutions," says Gilad Shainer, Mellanox vice president of marketing. - "Open source and collaborative development are key drivers for innovative computing platforms and advanced scalable and evolving applications in high performance, Web 2.0, and cloud computing. Mellanox's goal is to provide the most efficient intersystem solution for all computing and CPU architectures and to provide the highest return on investment for our users. "

The first joint work within the framework of the merger is carried out by NVIDIA and IBM - companies are working on the integration of CUDA GPU and Power ecosystems.

2023: Yadro's exit from OPF

In June 2023, it became known about the withdrawal of Yadro from the OpenPower Foundation (OPF) consortium. The Russian company consisted of "platinum participants," and its technology director Artem Ikoev was one of the members of the organization's board of directors.

Yadro explained to Kommersant the termination of participation in OPF "obvious organizational difficulties in maintaining a high pace of further collaboration and taking into account the strategic long-term choice in favor of the RISC-V architecture."

Yadro quit OpenPower Foundation (OPF) consortium

According to the newspaper, Yadro had an exclusive contract for the supply of servers based on IBM processors to Russia. And OPF membership also made it possible to receive technical support for equipment from an American corporation. Due to the withdrawal from the consortium, the company will not be able to continue developing equipment based on IBM technologies.

IBM technologies, which Yadro had access to as an OPF member, were widely used Russia as part of its devices. servers Both Vesnin and, DSS Tatlin according to the publication, by June 2023 are used as part of the infrastructure of telecom operators for the implementation of the "Spring Law," that is, for the long-term storage of correspondence, calls and other personal information of tens of millions of Russians.

Servers or DSS on the Power architecture made it possible "to comply with the world standard of equipment with larger RAM and high speed of technology than on the X86 architecture," says Pavel Kulakov, founder of the data center and cloud provider Oxygen. The Power architecture has been on the market for more than one year, has passed all stages of testing and refinement, while RISC-V is "at the initial stage of development, and it will take five to ten years to reach a similar level," a market source told the newspaper (article published June 23, 2023).^[1]

2019: Move under Linux Foundation wing

In August 2019, the OpenPOWER Foundation alliance came under the auspices of the Linux Foundation, thanks to which an independent platform was created for the further joint development of the architecture, without reference to a specific manufacturer. The OpenPOWER consortium includes more than 350 companies by August 2019. More than 3 million lines of system firmware code, specifications and diagrams necessary to create Power-compatible chips have been transferred to the community. Read more here.

A new processor war. How IBM Moves to Intel and ARM

The emergence of the Power ecosystem will have an impact on the balance of power in the computer market, or it may set a new vector for the development of computing for years to come (more).

IBM: Russian intelligence agencies approve Power platform for import substitution

Kirill Korniliev, who led IBM's Russian office for about 13 years and was appointed vice president of sales and head of IBM's industrial solutions in Central and Eastern Europe in July 2015, told TAdviser about how cooperation in the direction of the OpenPower initiative is developing in Russia.

In 2013, the OpenPower consortium was formed, which, in addition to IBM itself, also included Google, Tyan, Nvidia and Mellanox Technologies. The purpose of the consortium is to provide companies with the opportunity to create an open platform themselves. As part of the consortium, IBM is discovering the technologies on the basis of which the # Power processor is built, including drawings, specifications, software, BIOS. This allows you to check the processor for the absence of undeclared features.

approach means we are moving from product sales to the technology transfer business. Considering that our corporation annually invests about $6 billion in research and development, we have something to broadcast, and we can work perfectly in this field, "says Korniliev

Kirill Korniliev

According to Korniliev, as of mid-2015, the consortium already consists of over 130 companies. In Russia, there are three organizations included in the OpenPower consortium : MSTU named after Bauman, manufacturer of servers "Ricor.IT" and "KNS Group." IBM plans to develop a network of OEM partners and an ecosystem to create, among other things, appropriate software.

Thus, it becomes possible to create a Russian computer platform based on IBM technologies, which is especially important in the context of import substitution, believes Kirill Korniliev. Russian companies can independently design products on the Power platform and their components and organize their production on the basis of sites in any country of the world.

Kirill Korniliev notes that there are already servers and Power-based processors abroad that are not produced by IBM. Russian member partners of the OpenPower Foundation are also developing their own IBM processor-based product line for use in various segments, he says. For example, they can be products for MSPs (Management Service Providers), including servers for providing analytical tools for the SaaS model, servers for deep protection of stored data. In the latter case, the role of a partner is to provide cryptography to protect data at the processor level in accordance with Russian standards, Korniliev cites an example.

"We can even reach the production of processors based on Power technology in Russia, just technologies for the production of processors with a 22nm process technology in Russia have not yet been presented. And in Taiwan, for example, such production already exists. We have a roadmap for Power technology, and if Russian players want to cooperate on the production of processors, we are open to this, "says Kirill Korniliev

He added that IBM's OpenPower partners in Russia have already recruited many programmers and are building sales networks to develop this area, since software accounts for a significant part of such solutions.

According to Korniliev, at the moment IBM's share in products prepared by Russian partners based on Power is no more than 30%, if we talk about the financial side. Thus, these products can be considered Russian and are suitable for import substitution, he believes. This approach, according to the top manager, is also approved by the Russian special services responsible for security.