IBM began shipping its next generation of Power Systems servers, incorporating its Power8 processor, which is available for license and open for development through the OpenPower Foundation. IBM said it designed the new servers specifically for a new era of big data.
"Big data workloads require systems that scale to manage massive amounts of data," said Doug Balog, general manager of Power Systems for IBM. "Clients are choosing to run Linux on Power Systems because they are seeking a higher value, open server solution to help them better handle and leverage growing volumes of data."
According to IBM test results, the IBM Power Systems running BLU Acceleration on Power are capable of analyzing data 82 times faster than a comparably configured x86-based system. Designed for scale-out computing environments, three out of four of the new Power Systems servers shipping today can run various combinations of Linux, IBM AIX or IBM i operating systems. The fourth model, the Power S822L, runs Linux exclusively.
IBM also is offering the latest release of Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu OpenStack, and Canonical's Juju cloud orchestration tools on the new Power Systems servers. The availability of Ubuntu on Power Systems complements the existing availability of Red Hat and SUSE Linux operating system distributions, already supported on Power Systems. IBM also said PowerKVM, a Power Systems-compatible version of the Linux-based virtualization platform KVM, is now offered on all Power8 systems that run Linux exclusively.
For more information about IBM Power Systems, go to www.ibm.com/power.