IBM Power Systems

The main articles are:

• Servers (Global Market)
• Servers (Russian market)

Servers IBM The Power Systems families, equipped, processor Power8 appeared in a tipping point for computing in 2014, so they took an extremely interesting position, serving as a kind of bridge between the past and the future. They have their historical roots in the seventies of the XX century, so they inherit much of what was invented over the previous decades inside IBM. But in 2013, the OpenPOWER Foundation consortium was created, involving the integration of participants' intellectual property in order to create an ecosystem consisting of hybrid systems, where processors (CPU), GPUs (GPUs) large specialized chips (ASICs), programmable arrays () FPGA and memory are combined by means of the Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI).

Power Systems Line History

In the 21st century, the computer world has radically changed, there is a need to support the tasks of a new class: clouds, cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, working with big data. Supercomputer computing occupies a special place. Modern servers must be adapted to work in giant and provider data centers, and in corporate data centers, without losing the ability to execute traditional applications. Therefore, when creating new computers, you have to meet several rather contradictory requirements, look for a complex engineering compromise.

To meet the mixed requirements, engineers IBM from developed analogues of the servers of the standard Power Scale-out architecture and a three-member family of enterprise-class servers Power Enterprise Systems, which retains the main features of the servers with vertical scaling (Scale-up).

2024: IBM Power Systems Server Software Reveals Spyware Account

As warned at the end of October FSTEC by Russia (entry BDU:2024-08777^[1]), the software for managing and monitoring hardware resources IBM Flexible Service Processor (FSP) firmware of IBM Power Systems servers revealed an "iron" registered account for which you cannot limit rights or change the password. Exploitation of the vulnerability can allow a remote attacker to access FSP services. The vulnerability was fixed by the developer, but the update may not be available in Russia.

This vulnerability is simple and understandable: the developers have registered a certain default account in the product that cannot be disabled, renamed or changed its password, "Askar Dobryakov, a leading expert in business application protection at K2 Cybersecurity, explained for TAdviser. "Nobody knew about her existence before. And now it turned out that anyone can access the FSP interface via the network through the login/password from this default account, gaining full access to the server and its data. Disabling it is a matter of technology and great difficulties. Therefore, the vulnerability is very dangerous and has a high rating of 9.8.

IBM Power Systems servers were once popular in Russian companies, however, now they are treated as legacy systems.

Some companies, especially in the financial and banking sectors, used IBM, DB2 which runs on IBM servers, "Nikolai Ryagin, head of research and analytics, told TAdviser. R-Vision- These systems are highly loaded and cannot be decommissioned because they provide online access to data. In this regard, companies may have difficulty completely replacing this solution. Since an attack can occur over a network, it is recommended to restrict access to IBM Power Systems servers to only trusted persons and systems, and to use monitoring systems to track possible exploitation attempts.

At the same time, now such solutions are not especially exposed for direct access from the Internet, but are hidden in the depths of the infrastructure of their corporate networks.

At the moment, there are practically no publicly available interfaces of IBM Flexible Service Processor services on the Runet, "Sergey Gordeichik, CEO of CyberOK, shared his data with TAdviser. - This is due to the fact that, firstly, the servers themselves manufactured by IBM, in general, have a low prevalence in Russia and, secondly, with the fact that remote control interfaces for physical servers are not often available from the Internet. We cited statistics relevant for May 2024 on the most common critical vulnerabilities in Runet that are associated with such a class of products, and IBM products did not get into it. Based on this, we can conclude that the identified vulnerability of the BDU:2024-08777, despite the criticality of potential damage and ease of operation, should not have a significant impact on the security of Runet resources.

Actually, FSTEC in its message also recommends hiding vulnerable servers from outsiders:

• Use firewall to restrict remote access to servers.
• Use virtual private networks to organize remote access (VPN) to servers
• Configure intrusion detection and prevention systems to detect and respond to unauthorized device access attempts.

However, it is worth starting the error correction with a resource inventory, since IBM Power servers were once made to work for a long time without the need for maintenance. They could forget about updating or replacing them with Russian counterparts, but they can store critical data, the inaccessibility of which can disrupt the operation of the entire corporate infrastructure. Such servers should be identified and checked for their vulnerability, including for an internal attacker. It is recommended to either update or replace them with modern Russian solutions.

Since the vendor has not provided alternative ways to fix the vulnerability, except for updating the software, then it can be assumed that it is impossible to change these pre-installed credentials, this means that it is worth segmenting the network in order to limit access to the affected system as much as possible, placing the FSP in a separate isolated network segment with tight access control, - Alexey Lednev, head of the attack detection department of the Positive Technologies security expert center, recommended to TAdviser readers. - This will allow only authorized users to interact with the vulnerable system.

2021

IBM Power E1080 based on IBM Power10 processor

On September 8, 2021, IBM announced the launch of the IBM Power E1080, the first model of the IBM Power10 processor-based server family designed specifically for hybrid cloud environments.

As reported, in 2021, companies continue to adapt to unpredictable changes in consumer behavior and needs and need a platform that will allow them to use applications safely to the analyst and where and when required. A survey of CEOs CEO () conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value in 2021 showed that out of 3,000 CEOs surveyed, 56% feel the need to increase operational flexibility. They gave such an answer to the question about the goal, to which they plan to direct maximum efforts over the next two to three years.

Many believe that this need can be met with hybrid cloud computing, which combines on-premises enterprise resources with cloud infrastructure and provides up to two and a half times the effect of a public cloud-only approach. However, not all hybrid cloud-based models are the same.

When designing the E1080, we had to take into account how the pandemic changes the behavior of not only consumers, but also our customers, as well as their IT infrastructure needs. E1080 is a system in which everything, starting with a chip, is designed specifically for hybrid cloud environments. said Dylan Boday, IBM vice president of product management, responsible for AI and hybrid cloud

The IBM E1080 server features several key features, including the following:

• Optimization for hybrid cloud, such as the industry's planned first minute-by-minute control of PORed Hat usage, including OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, 4.1 times the throughput of OpenShift application containers compared to x86vi-based servers, as well as the integrity of the architecture and the inherent flexibility of the clouds in a hybrid cloud environment to optimize versatility and reduce costs without refactoring applications.
• Hardware optimization provides up to 50% more performance and scalability than the IBM Power E980 predecessor. In addition, they reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint, allowing customers to do more with less. The IBM E1080 server also has four matrix algebra operations accelerators per core, which speeds up AI tasks five times over E980.
• Security tools developed for hybrid cloud environments, including transparent memory encryption without additional management settings, four times the number of encryption blocks per core that provide 2.5 times faster AES encryption compared to IBM Power E980, and information security software for each layer of the system stack.
• An ecosystem of ISVs, business partners, and support to optimize IBM Power E1080 capabilities and build hybrid cloud environments by customers, including performance for SAP applications on an 8-socket system. IBM is also launching a tiered service, Power Expert Care, designed to protect systems from cyber threats as well as ensure consistent hardware and software operation.

We have been using IBM Power for a long time and want to be one of the first to try out an IBM-based E1080 system Power10 with our critical applications. The server meets our need for continuous, large-scale service delivery and fault tolerance requirements, including updated security levels and optimized energy efficiency. narrated by Klaus of Finanz Informatik

When using an IBM Power10-based server, such as a hybrid cloud E1080 with an IBM Power Virtual Server, the integrity of the architecture on the resources suggests that often highly specialized and business-critical applications, typically stored in a local environment, can be moved to the cloud according to workload and needs without the high financial and time costs associated with refactoring to a different architecture.

IBM Power E1080 also has the ability to scale with Power Private Cloud with Dynamic Capacity so that users can free up unused CPU performance and pay only for what they used, if needed. This avoids the effect of server sprawl and lengthy procurement processes by tailoring the cloud payment model to meet data center needs, as well as optimizing operational efficiency and flexibility.

With additional optimization of the "cloud" economy model for local hardware, IBM Power E1080 will become a system that supports minute-by-minute accounting for the use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift, which will expand the capabilities that are already available on the IBM Power Virtual Server.

With close synergy with Red Hat, IBM Power E1080 provides 4.1 times higher OpenShift application container throughput per core compared to architecture-based servers, x86 allowing more applications to be deployed simultaneously within a single system.

The IBM Power E1080 server is based on the IBM Power10 processor. It is a commercially available 7nm processor from IBM. It is manufactured by Samsung using 7nm technology based on the EUV process.

Thanks to IBM Power10, the IBM Power server E1080 higher (up to 30%) performance per core and higher (more than 50%) socket and system performance compared to the previous generation IBM Power E980 server. IBM Power10-based systems use updated encryption capabilities in hybrid cloud environments. Power10 is scalable with transparent memory encryption. This is achieved by the fact that IBM Power10 has four times more encryption blocks per core than IBM Power9, which in turn helps to optimize the speed of AES encryption per core by 2.5 times compared to the previous generation IBM Power servers. IBM PowerVM is used as the built-in hypervisor in the E1080.

Four matrix algebra (MMA) accelerators per IBM Power10 processor core contribute to up to five times faster AI tasks compared to the IBM Power E980 server. An increased number of MMAs provide hardware optimization, with IBM Power E1080 also supporting the ability to use native models with IBM Auto-AI and "no code" tools. Using an open library of deep learning neural network building (ONNX) software.

The IBM Power10-based server family is supported by various independent software vendors, IBM business partners, and other stakeholders.

IBM is taking orders for the IBM Power E1080, with deliveries set to begin before the end of September 2021. IBM also introduces the Power Expert Care service with a tiered approach to service, including Advanced and Premium Expert Care. Clear service levels and pricing provide the necessary support for the IBM Power E1080 server. And additional services, such as hardware and software health checks and regular security updates, protect systems from cyber threats, ensure consistency and the next level of availability.

As a development environment for the Garda DB agency solution for various versions of AIX

On August 19, 2021, the company Garda Technology"" announced that it creates solutions for various security problems that are implemented financial in the sector, industrial enterprises, telecom operators and. state structures Russia countries CIS One such solution is "."Garda DB

To implement the product, the company chose virtual servers IBM Power. More. here

IBM creates world's first 2nm chip

On May 6, 2021, IBM announced the creation, according to the company, of the world's first chip built on a 2-nanometer technological process. According to the developers, this chip will form the basis of future IBM products, including the IBM Power Systems and IBM Z platforms.

The American corporation hopes that 2nm chips will help accelerate innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, 5G- and 6G networks, quantum computers, astronautics and unmanned systems.

As noted by SiliconANGLE, the most advanced computer processors by May 2021 are based on a 5nm topology, and most chips use a 7nm process technology. The term "nanometer" describes how many transistors can be placed on a single chip. The smaller the number, the higher the placement density, which increases the speed and energy efficiency of the chips. According to IBM, the company managed to place "50 billion transistors in a nail-sized chip."

We are talking about a crystal with an area of ​ ​ 150 mm ². In other words, the density of transistors in such a chip is an impressive 333.3 million per square millimeter. For comparison, for current 7nm TSMC products, this parameter is 91.2 million/mm ², and 10nm Intel processors contain about 100.8 million transistors in a square millimeter.

IBM believes that the transition of mobile devices to 2nm chips can lead to an increase in their battery life by up to four times, which will allow these gadgets to be charged much less often. Laptops and computers with the new chips will work faster, and the use of 2nm chips in unmanned vehicles will allow their systems to recognize and respond to obstacles faster.

By May 6, 2021, IBM does not name the timing of the release of 2nm solutions on the commercial market.^[2]

2020

Accommodation at Moro Hub Data Center in Dubai

On December 18, 2020, it became known that Moro Hub will place IBM Power Systems in its secure data center in Dubai and offer it as a service with a subscription model. Read more here.

IBM Power10 - Flagship Server Processor Announcement

On August 17, 2020, IBM introduced the first processor in its range, manufactured using a 7nm process technology. We are talking about a Power10 chip, which the manufacturer calls a platform for implementing enterprise-level hybrid cloud systems in data centers. Read more here.

2019: Power Architecture Discovery

On August 20, 2019, IBM announced the wide discovery of the Power processor architecture, as a result of which customers and partners were able to create their own modifications of chips based on the Power instruction set without any royalties.

The new licensing agreement will allow chip developers to expand and customize a set of instructions for specific applications they want to run. In addition, IBM allowed all of its Power-related patents to be used free of charge and also transferred project management to the community.

The OpenPOWER Foundation Alliance, which oversaw the development of Power processors, 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.

By moving the Power instruction set architecture to an open model... and by making it accessible to the growing tech community, we will allow innovation in the open hardware and software space to evolve at an accelerated pace, "said OpenPOWER Foundation Executive Director Hugh Blemings.

IBM provides a range of resources to help Power Project supporters learn and develop their technology faster. Thus, the company has released a reference guide for embedding a set of instructions in microcircuits other than OpenPower and implementing the OpenCAPI and Open Memory Interface protocols, which are used to connect the server CPU to the internal memory.^[3]

2017

First server based on Power9

In December 2017, IBM introduced the first new generation Power Systems server based on the Power9 processor. The company says that this processor is designed specifically for working with intensive computing loads of artificial intelligence technologies and is able to improve the training time of deep learning frameworks by almost four times. Read more here.

Overview of Power8 Processor-Based Servers

Horizontal Scale Servers

Scale-out servers are similar in that they have a close hardware device, but differ in the supported OS and purpose:

• Power Scale-out Systems supporting AIX, IBM i and Linux
• Power Scale-out L-line, Linux-only
• Linux-only OpenPOWER LC

In the names 8 means belonging to the Power8 family, and the last two digits show the number of socket seats and the height in U. Servers can run two or three listed OSs, and if the "L" symbol is found, then this server only works with Linux OS. Servers without 2U L can run under AIX, Linux and IBM i.

Dividing models by supported OS is due to the fact that there are two approaches to placing numbers in memory. Let's say if you need to write the number 321, then you can start with the highest bit, and there will be 123 in memory - this is what is done in all RISC architectures and is called big-endian. If you start with the younger one, then there will be 321 in memory - this is accepted in the x86 architecture and is called low-endian. There are different versions of Linux that support one or another addressing option, so although the PowerR8 processor is the only one that supports both modes, certain negotiation procedures are required. Hence the need to divide servers into two subsets.^[4]

Servers for Transactional Workloads

The main, more traditional group includes 4 IBM Power System models. The chronology of their birth is as follows: 2014 - S814 and S824, 2016 - S822 and 2017 - S812.

The Power S814 is available in both rack and tower designs. Power S814 has one processor seat. There is a feature: 4-core and 6-core processors are equipped with both rack and tower configurations, and 8-core only rack.

Power S814 can have a maximum of 8 DDR3 CDIMM slots with a capacity of 16 to 128 GB, the total capacity reaches 1 TB. For memory expansion, IBM Active Memory Expansion can be used, using compression and decompression of memory content. The Power S824 is available only in the 4U rack version, has two processor sockets and allows a maximum of 24 cores when using 12-core processors. With 16 memory slots, its size can be brought to 2 TB. It can also use Active Memory Expansion.

The following are integrated into the servers:

• Service processor
• EnergyScale Energy Saving Technology
• Redundant Hot Swap Cooling System
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• Two HMC 1 Gb Ethernet ports RJ45
• One system port with a RJ45 connector

Single-processor Power S814 has seven PCIe Gen3 slots and Power S824 up to eleven hot-swap PCIe slots. Servers are equipped with several types of disk panels and additional devices that allow you to connect a variety of peripheral devices.

The Power S822 is packed denser than its predecessors, the 2U case houses 2 processor connectors. Each of the processors is equipped with memory up to 512 GB, the total capacity is 1 Tabyte, respectively fewer PCI-Express 3.0 disks and slots than in S824. The main advantage is in dimensions, which is important for service providers.

Power S812 is called Mini, but not for its dimensions, but for its modest capabilities. At 2U height, the server is built on a single-core Power8 processor with 64 GB of memory, it expands the scope of use down compared to Power S822 and Power S824. The S812 server is mainly designed to replace older platforms that support IBM i and AIX loads.

Linux servers

Power Systems L servers are also called Linux only Power Systems. They run Ubuntu, SUSE or Red Hat Linux, they are designed to compete on this site with x86-based servers through higher performance and more data.

virtualizations Either the native IBM PowerVM tool or the c tool can be used for. open source KVM Using the PowerKVM hypervisor opens up opportunities to attract a wide range of ON open source developers. The original Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a free enterprise-level hypervisor that provides the performance, reliability, and scalability you need to perform heavy workloads on your environment Windows and Linux.

These servers are built according to the same requirements, they use the same components as in IBM Power Systems, so they provide equal characteristics of reliability, readiness and serviceability (RAS). The same administrative tools, such as Hardware Management Console (HMC), can be used when PowerVM-based virtualization is installed. To be included in the cloud, IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager or IBM Cloud Orchestrator is used. That is, these are complete counterparts of Power Systems, but are capable of supporting big-endian Linux.

The exception is the IBM Power System S824L server with Nvidia technology. This is a server with two processor connectors, which has all the technical parameters of the S824, but also has one or two Nvidia GPUs.

OpenPOWER LC Servers

OpenPOWER LC servers are fundamentally different from Power Systems. In them, RAS indicators are not the main thing, their designs are aimed at obtaining maximum results and reducing cost by using mass components from among those on the market. In addition, individual models are specialized for a certain load (DIMM memory, cheap SATA drives).

For management, they use popular tools such as Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) and KVM. They include the latest technologies such as Nvidia NVLink interface for GPUs, NVMe drives, 100 GBps adapters (EDRs). To connect specialized FPGAs, use the Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI). OpenPOWER LC only supports little endian versions of Linux with KVM for running multiple virtual Linux VMs on a single system.

Power S822LC for Big Data was created in collaboration with several members of the OpenPOWER Foundation and is an infrastructure to support analytical applications such as Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark. It can have 1 or two server connectors and up to 96 TB of internal drives, these can be SSDs or NVMe drives. Nvidia Tesla K80 or P100 accelerators connect via PCIe or CAPI.

Power S822LC for High Performance Computing was designed by IBM with the participation of OpenPOWER Foundation partners Nvidia, Mellanox and Wistron. It includes Nvidia NVLink technology. Supported on up to four Nvidia Tesla P100 GPUs connected via Nvidia NVLink, each node includes up to 1 TB of DDR4 memory connected via Mellanox 100 Gbps (EDR) InfiniBand. There are options with water cooling, more efficient options for NVMe drives and Mellanox Connect X-4 adapters.

Power S822LC for Commercial Computing was designed by IBM with the participation of OpenPOWER Foundation partners to support cluster and cloud workloads. A single or dual processor system has a high speed of data exchange with memory - it reaches 230 GB/s, the presence of a parallel storage server Elastic Storage Server and up to two GPUs connected via CAPI.

Power Enterprise Systems Vertical Scaling Servers

Power Enterprise Systems servers belong to the category of computers called "big hardware." Big iron includes large, expensive and very fast computers. In addition to supercomputers, mainframes and older models of Unix servers get into it.

The emergence of new CAPI interfaces that expand the scale-up potential will not be able to cancel computers with significantly more expensive vertical scaling in the foreseeable future, since it involves the collaboration of several processors on shared memory. The processor is Power8 ready for vertical scaling - the cores are connected to memory using NUMA technology, which provides distributed access, including for several processors installed on the same board.

Big hardware is designed for traditional heavy applications, but, as evidenced by Cloud's "C" index, IBM believes that the new Power E850C, Power E870C and Power E880C NUMA systems will also be used to create private and hybrid clouds. All three are assembled from the so-called NUMA boxes of three types, differing in the number of processors - 4, 8 or 16.

• IBM Cloud PowerVC Private Cloud Support
• Manager, Cloud-based HMC Apps and project suites free software OpenStack
• IBM Cloud Starter Pack Hybrid Cloud Management Tools
• Capacity on demand technologies

As of 2017, RISC architecture is still the leader among high-performance systems for critical business applications. As you know, solutions based on IBM Power Systems on Power8 have the best price-performance ratio due to higher utilization, reduced acquisition costs, improved performance for processing large amounts of data and analytics, and flexible options for expanding computing resources on demand. This is what the corrosive customer, who considers TSO for 3-5 years, draws attention to, comparing solutions on the standard x86 architecture, - said Dryzhak Maxim, Deputy Director for Work with Vendors at STEP LOGIC (part of the Gro up of company Systematica).

The expert gave examples of recent comparisons:

We will not argue with the fact that RISC architecture servers are a specific thing created for special tasks, and if they are solved on servers of a standard architecture, the cost of the solution can be higher, and in the long term it can be suppressed. If we do not forget about traditional customers in the form of the banking sector, government agencies and companies working with big data, analytics using ABS, SAP HANA and so on, they were, are and will be the main consumers of RISC systems, regardless of the depreciation of the ruble, the emergence of new, "political" attitudes, etc. I would like to note that the market for RISC systems for the first half of 2017 (according to IDC estimates) decreased. Compared to similar indicators in 2016, there was a decline in the supply of such servers by 45.1% in units. However, not everything is so bad: with almost half the decline in sales, the drop in supplies in "live" money was only 5.2%, which suggests that partners understand that they can make money on this. And taking into account the constant popularization of solutions based on IBM Power systems, which entered into a consortium with Open Power, the conclusion of an alliance with Nutanix to build hyper-converged solutions - RISC architecture is not going to leave the market

2016: Power Systems LC Line Extension

On September 14, 2016, IBM announced the launch of a line of servers based on the Linux platform, focused on working with cognitive computing and improving the efficiency of data centers (data centers).

Linux-based servers are built using an innovative processor and combine the latest developments in the OpenPOWER community, as a result of which they show a high level of performance and computing efficiency, compared to systems based on the x86 processor platform.

IBM Power System S822LC Presentation, (2015)

The IBM Power Systems server line, developed in conjunction with leading global technology companies, is designed specifically to speed up work with artificial intelligence, machine learning, high-performance computing and other workloads focused on processing a large amount of data. According to IBM, with the help of these servers, cloud service providers will be able to reduce the cost of maintaining data centers.

The three systems were developed jointly by IBM with partners in the OpenPOWER consortium. They became an addition to IBM's Linux server portfolio . These servers will complement the Power Systems LC line, designed to achieve system superiority on the x86 processor platform on a variety of data-intensive workloads.

User insights and additional business opportunities that can be gained through smart analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence are increasingly dependent on performance. Accelerated computing, which can truly contribute to the development of big data workloads, will become a fundamental element in the cognitive era. With innovations from OpenPOWER partners such as NVIDIA, our new Linux-based servers, as well as POWER Accel, will become the new standard for these workloads compared to x86-based servers. Doug Balogh, Head of POWER, IBM Systems

The main achievement of the collaboration is the IBM Power System S822LC platform for high-performance computing systems. A system powered by an upgraded IBM POWER8 processor with NVIDIA NVLink interface is a product available on an open POWER architecture.

The direct connection of the system with an IBM POWER8 processor with NVIDIA Tesla P100 Pascal GPU support is provided by NVIDIA NVLink, a high-speed, energy-efficient internal connection. NVIDIA NVLink is built into the microchip and is included in the overall system design. The connection between IBM and NVIDIA technologies allows you to exchange data five times faster than on servers based on x86 processors.

The systems will serve ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) as an application development and optimization platform, which will effectively take advantage of the built-in NVIDIA NVLink interface. The systems will test demanding applications for Summit and Sierra supercomputers, which IBM expects to hand over to ORNL and LLNL in 2017.

Two additional LC servers - IBM Power System S821LC and IBM Power System S822LC for Big Data - can use GPU accelerators to improve system performance when running a variety of intensive computing applications. Customers can connect the NVIDIA Tesla accelerator K80 the GPU via the PCIe bus.

In addition, customers can connect to the POWERAccel Coherent Acceleration Processor Interface (CAPI), which is available on S821LC and S822LC servers for Big Data models designed for high-speed connections using FPGA accelerators.

IBM Power LC servers are fully compatible with Linux cloud environments, optimized for data-intensive applications, and maximizing data center efficiency. Compared to x86-based systems, Power LC servers can be purchased at a lower price, providing 80% higher performance per unit cost. This efficiency enables companies and cloud service providers to reduce costs and prevent uncontrolled data center growth.

Prices in the online store start at $5,999. As of September 14, 2016, all model servers are available, excluding the IBM Power System S822LC for high-performance computing, the shipment of which is scheduled for September 26, 2016.

2015: IBM Releases PowerSystems LC Line Servers

On October 9, 2015, IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM) announced the release of Linux servers that cope with workloads and data processing faster and cheaper than systems on the x86 processor platform.

The new PowerSystems LC servers were developed on a platform of technology and high performance standards gained through collaboration with OpenPOWER Foundation partners, including NVIDIA, Mellanox, Canonical, Tyan, and Wistron.

Together with LC servers, the Linux development community will have access to high-performance POWER processors and will be able to use them for data analysis, cloud and high-performance computing.

According to the results of internal testing, the IBM Power Systems LC server, the cost of which is two times lower than the processor-based analogue, Intel will fully handle Spark's average workload Apache , including News Feed analysis in, Twitter processing views of streaming video pages and other types of information-intensive objects, at the same time, its performance will be 2.3 times higher for every spent. dollar The cost-effective design of the Power Systems LC server enables 94% more social media-related Spark downloads per rack than a processor-based server. Intel

The company offers three server options Linux as part of the Power Systems LC line:

• Power Systems S812LC,
• Power Systems S822LC for Commercial Computing
• Power Systems S822LC for HPC.

S812LC is a single 2U server, supports up to 10 cores, has 1 TB of memory, 115 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and can support up to 14 disk drivers. S812LC is a Linux solution for storage-intensive workloads like Spark and Hadoop for highly efficient insights.

Power Systems S822LC with two 2U connectors is available for commercial and high-performance computing. The server has a similar configuration and supports up to 20 cores, 1 TB of memory and 230 GB/s of memory bandwidth. HPC S822LC comes with two built-in. processorsNVIDIA Tesla K80 GPU The two S822LC options have twice the performance per core, a price-performance ratio of 40% more profitable and memory bandwidth twice as fast as similar E5-2699 v3 servers on the x86 processor platform.

Digital interface for purchasing servers

Along the way, IBM announced the launch of a digital interface for purchasing customers on mobile devices or in a browser. It is intended for both developers and small businesses, as well as for organizations of any size. The interface is easy to use and transparent pricing when buying Power Systems. Already in 2015, a "Buy" button will appear in it, it will allow customers to purchase such systems online using a bank card.

2013: Plan to invest $1 billion in Power Systems server technology

On September 18, 2013, during the LinuxCon 2013 conference, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion in new Linux-based solutions as well as open source technologies for IBM Power Systems servers. With this initiative, the corporation's customers will be able to reduce the cost of processing big data and cloud computing using modern systems created for working with next-generation applications.

IBM also announced the opening of a new Linux client center in Europe. The new Linux Innovation Center on Power Systems will open in Montpellier, France, and will be the fourth representative of the growing network. The first such center was opened in Beijing in May 2013. The same centers are located in New York and Austin, Texas. Linux Innovation Centers help developers build and deploy new solutions for big data, cloud and mobile computing, and social business with Linux-based open technologies and the latest POWER7 + processor technologies.

To help developers, partners, and customers interested in using Linux on Power, IBM will improve the cloud-based application development system on Power Systems. The free cloud service will provide enterprises with infrastructure for prototyping, developing and testing Linux applications on Power, as well as software solutions for AIX and IBM i.

These initiatives continue IBM's strategy to develop the Linux ecosystem on Power Systems, which supports thousands of open source applications and independent developer programs around the world.

2011: High-Performance Server Line

Initially, as part of hardware solutions, united by the common name IBM Power Systems, a line of high-performance servers:

• IBM Power Blade Servers
• IBM Power 710 Express
• IBM Power 720 Express
• IBM Power 730 Express
• IBM Power 740 Express
• IBM Power 750 Express
• IBM Power 770
• IBM Power 780
• IBM Power 795
• IBM Power System S822LC
• IBM Power System S821LC

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for the emergence of Power processors were made as part of the 801 project. Subsequently, all generations of IBM RISC processors grew out of it . Since 1990, RS/6000 servers were built on Power, later renamed System p, since 2000 - eServer iSeries based on AS/400, renamed in 2006 to System I. In 2008, IBM System i and System p were integrated under the common IBM Power Systems brand with support for three operating systems operating systems IBM i, AIX and Linux. Since then, IBM Power Systems has maintained this triune beginning, which is associated with the obligation to support the existing installation base.

• In 1999, IBM was the first major vendor to include Linux in its production program.
• The AS/400 system was successful in business applications, operating and operating in hundreds of thousands of companies in many countries, with the exception of Russia. (https://www.helpsystems.com/resources/guides/2017-ibm-i-marketplace-survey-results#demographics).
• AIX, one of the most popular versions of Unix that has existed since the late eighties, is also alive and growing, so continuity will last indefinitely.

Applications

Using to predict the weather in the world

On June 21, 2017, it became known about IBM's plans to use its supercomputing capabilities to create complex weather forecasting models. Moreover, the company wants to provide meteorological reports around the world.

The Weather Company, part of IBM, has entered into agreements with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to create computational weather forecasting technologies using IBM Power Systems and OpenPOWER servers. The new developments will be optimized to run on systems built on IBM Power9 processors.

The Weather Company will use supercomputers to adapt the NCAR weather prediction model globally and refine weather data for weeks and months ahead..

Weather forecasting is one of the most difficult tasks in modern computer architecture. Thanks to the use of advanced physical models and interdependencies, meteorologists and computer weather simulators can use all the computing power that is, "Mary Glackin, head of meteorology and operations at The Weather Company, told ZDNet.

Better weather forecasting, she said, would allow people, as well as businesses whose activities depend on weather conditions (such as agriculture), to make better decisions. Since IBM uses data from IoT sensors and all kinds of devices, simply observing the weather will become high-tech. Even cars with internet access will eventually provide information on atmospheric precipitation, traffic situations depending on weather conditions and other useful data, Glakin added.^[5]

Use in Converged Systems

In May 2017, it became known about IBM's entry into the market of processors for servers used in converged infrastructure. The company can compete with Intel.

IBM's partner in the new project was Nutanix, which specializes in the production of converged systems - software and hardware complexes that combine computing resources, data storage and virtualization systems in one block.

Such Nutanix systems will use IBM Power Systems servers running IBM's own Power processors. Servers not on Intel chips, Nutanix began to promote for the first time. The vendor's assortment includes equipment consisting of Dell, Supermicro, Lenovo and Cisco servers, the hardware basis of which is Intel processors.

Converged solutions on the IBM Power System differ from Intel systems and are addressed primarily to customers who are actively working with machine learning technologies, said Stephanie Chiras, vice president of IBM Power Systems. Such equipment could find application in financial institutions to implement fraud detection systems, retail businesses to improve sales technologies and hospitals for medical imaging, she said. All of these companies need impressive computing power that can quickly process data, search for the information they need, and produce the right result.

By May 2017, Intel processors remain the most popular when it comes to personal computers and servers, Fortune reported. Cooperation with Nutanix suggests that IBM is challenging Intel in the server segment. IBM is promoting its processors here in conjunction with other members of the Power Open Foundation, namely Nvidia, Red Hat and others.^[6]

Notes