What you wanted to know about the iSeries hardware POWER 5, POWER 6 and POWER 7 Bill Fuller Natco Products Corporation x112 Technical Update Hardware IBM Power Platform

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Myth: Organizations are no longer investing in this platform. The install base is shrinking quickly.

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Reality: An Info-Tech survey found that only 4% of organizations are planning to migrate away from IBM i, while 64% are planning to upgrade to new hardware/software. (28% are staying with their current version for the foreseeable future, while 3% are exploring Managed Services/Hosting providers.)

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Myth: IBM i and its Power Systems hardware platform are old technology.

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Reality: IBM has consistently delivered new Power- based processors every three years since 2001, and has consistently introduced new features ahead of most competitors (e.g., 64-bit processing since 1995, and virtualization via logical partitioning since 1988).

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Myth: IBM i (and its predecessors such as the iSeries) only run applications that provide green screen interfaces.

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? Reality: 39% of respondents to an Info-Tech survey are running web applications on an IBM i/iSeries system. The release of IBM i v6.1 for Power Systems (in 2007) added support for languages such as Java, PHP, and C++, expanding the ability to provide modern interfaces. In addition, development tools are available to create modern, web-based interfaces for interacting with a legacy application, making even RPG-based software accessible to tablets and smartphones.

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? What is the canary in the mineshaft for IBM Power Systems?

Myths Versus Reality Is IBM i a dying platform, or still going strong? The first sign that IBM i may in fact be dying and following the path of OS/2 will be when major ISVs stop supporting this platform. At this time, the ISV market is still strong, especially where it matters for this platform — enterprise software. IBM counts over 2,500 ISVs and 5,000 solutions available for Power Systems overall, and over 850 ISVs and 2,300 applications for IBM i 6.1 and 7.1.

IBM POWER 5 Introduced in 2004, supported 2 cores Clock rate 1.5 Ghz to 2.3 Ghz 130 nm to 90 nm Feature Size On the left a QCM with 4 POWER 5 chips and 4 Level 3 cache memory of 36 Mb Power Architecture Microarchitecture Power PC V million transistors and has an area of 389 mm 2

IBM POWER 6 Introduced in 2007 Dual core processor, with each capable of SMT. Clock rate 3.5 Ghz to 4.7 Ghz 65 nm Feature Size Power Architecture Power ISA V million transistors and is 341 mm 2

POWER7® System RAS Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability Eight processor cores, 4 SMT threads per core, 32 things at once! Integrated L3 cache Introduced in 2010 Power Architecture Power ISA V nm technology – 567 mm2

POWER 7 Proton Bombardment Because the real world can trip up the fastest computer, testing includes real world elements. Solar flares, cosmic particles can cause temporary and permanent failures. Errors generated in memory, registers and on the processor are detected, avoided, recomputed ands if necessary the component is taken out of service automatically and the problem logged and service call placed.