IBM Unveils Power Systems Servers for Scale-Out, Big Data

IBM unveiled its new line of high-performance, Power Systems servers based on its own POWER8 processor and designed for the era of Big Data.

IBM said the new servers, which represent a $2.4 billion investment and three-plus years of development, leverage new silicon with more than 4 billion transistors and more than 11 miles of high-speed copper wiring.  IBM calculates that its new Power Systems are capable of analyzing data 50 times faster than the latest x86-based systems, and certain analytics processes can be run 1,000 times faster.

The Power Systems servers will run various Linux implementations, including Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu OpenStack and Juju service orchestration tools.  They will also support PowerKVM, a Power Systems-compatible version of the popular Linux-based virtualization platform KVM, as well as Red Hat and SUSE Linux. The first POWER8-based systems to debut are five Power Systems S-Class servers designed for large, scale-out computing environments.

"This is the first truly disruptive advancement in high-end server technology in decades, with radical technology changes and the full support of an open server ecosystem that will seamlessly lead our clients into this world of massive data volumes and complexity," said Tom Rosamilia, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "There no longer is a one-size-fits-all approach to scale out a data center. With our membership in the OpenPOWER Foundation, IBM's POWER8 processor will become a catalyst for emerging applications and an open innovation platform."

IBM's POWER architecture is the cornerstone of innovation for the OpenPOWER Foundation, which also includes participation of Google, NVIDIA, Mellanox, Tyan and over 20 others.

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43702.wss