IBM has introduced a new range of systems that can handle massive amounts of computational data faster at nearly 20% better price/performance than comparable Intel Xeon v3 Processor-based systems.
As opposed to being built on proprietary processor technology and stretched to the limit by workloads related to big data, cloud and mobile demands, IBM is designing a new data-centric approach to systems that leverages the building blocks of the OpenPOWER Foundation.
“Our open innovation business model and approach to OpenPOWER will disrupt technology providers that offer closed, proprietary solutions produced within the walls of one company,” said Doug Balog, General Manager, Power Systems, IBM Systems & Technology Group. “Today’s announcement provides clients with a greater choice to help them gain the fastest, deepest insights to solve their business problems.”
The new IBM Power S824L servers run Linux and are built on IBM’s POWER8 processor which is optimized for the most demanding big data workloads. The new systems tightly integrate IBM and other OpenPOWER member technologies, including NVIDIA’s GPU accelerator technology for the first time.
And, to take advantage of GPU acceleration on Power Systems, IBM will be optimizing IBM Big Data enterprise applications, including the IBM DB2 database software with BLU Acceleration. Additionally, IBM is working to optimize Power versions of widely used GPU-accelerated applications for bioinformatics, defense, finance, molecular dynamics, weather modeling – including SOAP3, NAMD, GROMACS, FFTW library, and Quantum Espresso.
Future versions of IBM Power Systems will feature NVIDIA NVLink technology, eliminating the need to transfer data between the CPU and GPUs over the PCI Express interface.
In addition to the GPU-accelerated Power S824L offering, other additions to IBM’s POWER8 processor-based Power Systems portfolio and solutions that complement the lineup include the IBM Data Engine for NoSQL; IBM Data Engine for Analytics – Power Systems Edition; new Power Enterprise Systems; and Power Enterprise Pools.
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