[Info-vax] PowerX Roadmap - Extended beyond 2020

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at rbnsn.com] On
> Behalf Of IanD via Info-vax
> Sent: 09-Sep-16 7:37 AM
> To: info-vax at rbnsn.com
> Cc: IanD <iloveopenvms at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Info-vax] PowerX Roadmap - Extended
> beyond 2020
> 
> On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 2:45:04 AM UTC+10, Kerry
> Main wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-
> vax.com] On Behalf Of
> >
> > For those so inclined to think beyond just X86-64, these
> links  may be of
> > some interest:
> >
> > April 7, 2016:
> > http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/04/07/ibm-
> unfolds-power-chip-roadmap-past-2020/
> >
> > Nov 16, 2015:
> >
> http://www.nextplatform.com/2015/11/16/openpower-
> accelerated-computing-will-be-the-new-normal/
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Kerry Main
> > Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com
> 
> https://www.hpcwire.com/2016/08/30/ibm-unveils-
> power9-details/
> 
> Looks like IBM is going to keep pushing the Power
> platform onto bigger and better...
> 
> Quote:
> 
> August 30, 2016
> IBM Advances Against x86 with Power9
> Tiffany Trader
> 
> After offering OpenPower Summit attendees a limited
> preview in April, IBM is unveiling further details of its next-
> gen CPU, Power9, which the tech mainstay is counting on
> to regain market share ceded to rival Intel. Built on
> GlobalFoundries 14nm finFET process technology, Power9
> will be the centerpiece in Power-based servers starting in
> the second half of 2017. The highlight of the release is a
> brand new core and chip architecture that IBM has
> optimized for technical/HPC workloads, hyperscale,
> analytics and machine learning applications.
> 
> Although system availability hasn’t been announced yet,
> IBM has already landed a major win for its forthcoming
> Power9 platform. Back in November 2014, IBM, Mellanox
> and Nvidia were tapped to provide the DOE with two
> ~200-petaflops machines: Summit and Sierra. The $325
> million contract specifies that the machines will employ
> Power9 CPUs and Volta GPUs when they come online
> next year.
> 
> IBM also has buy-in from Google, no small proof point in
> an era when hyperscalers exert substantial influence on
> the market. At the 2016 OpenPower Summit, Google said
> that the majority of its infrastructure had been ported to
> Power and that for most Googlers, enabling Power is a
> matter of a config change. Google is also working with
> Rackspace on a Power9 server, called Zaius, a design that
> will then be submitted to the Open Compute Project.
> 
> etc
> 
> PoowerX-VMS anyone? :-)
>

Hey, I would love to see VSI do OpenVMS on Power9  at some future point.  As a reminder, VSI has always stated that the X86-64 port was part of the journey, not an end point.

Having stated this, one should never make a port decision based purely on pure technical reasons.

One needs to "skate where the puck is going to be - not where it is right now" (great Gretzky quote).

Imho, the industry is moving back to what I would call in simplified terms "a return to client-server". ... but with a slightly different model and emphasis i.e. for lack of a better term "SC-SS" (secure-client to secure-server) ... Back to the future IT.

By this I mean where the "client" is one of many, many different "secure thin clients" - cell phones, laptops, notebooks, game consoles, and as much as I hate to use industry hype - the "IOT" (fridges, pop machines, scanners .. whatever). 

This is a great future market for VSI to market OpenVMS and ARM/X86-64. This is a volume compute focus.

Wrt to servers, I mean where the "secure server" represents the traditional back end big server environment with lights out, very high HA, multi-site DC models, big core servers with high compute, huge TB memory, ultra-low latency, fast local IO and a reduction of the many different HIGH latency LAN network tiers so common today. Network tier consolidation.

This is a great future market for VSI to market OpenVMS and Power9/X86-64.  This is a mission critical compute focus.

Why Power9? It's not just because the Power architecture has some really strong differentiators over X86-64 (especially with dedicated very high throughput workload accelerators arch), but also because an improved Power9 partnership with IBM would also get them to more easily justify releasing their many software products on VSI OpenVMS and Power9. 

>From link provide by Ian:
https://www.hpcwire.com/2016/08/30/ibm-unveils-power9-details/

Quote "As we’re moving into the post-Moore’s law era, you can’t just turn the crank and make the general-purpose processor faster,” said Starke. “It’s our believe that you’re going to see more and more specialized silicon. That can be in the form of on-chip acceleration, but as you can see from our approach, we tend to believe it’s more flexible and deployable with off-chip acceleration. Obviously it requires extreme bandwidth, low-latency, and tight integration with your main processor complex, but that’s where we see the future of computing going and you see us putting very strong investments in these directions.” 

Or stated more simply - skate where the puck is going to be.

I also think, if implemented, an OpenVMS / Power9 platform would have a much better chance of future success as a mainframe alternative than ANY OS on a X86-64 platform - especially if the IBM LP products were available on the platform to assist with selling Power9 servers. One has to understand the mainframe culture - most really (really) hate all UNIX (including AIX) and Linux and view them as "distributed systems" (mainframe talk for "not real production systems"). On the other hand, mainframe types have a much higher level of respect for OpenVMS. 

Another good link on Power9 (more technical): August 24, 2016
http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/08/24/big-blue-aims-sky-power9/ 

Imho, this would be a great "blue oceans" future strategy.

Regards,

Kerry Main
Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com