原创：写在Znext、POWER7+发布之际

我整个人都斯巴达了:Intel再次推迟Tukwila四核安腾至2010年
http://lt.cjdby.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=621499

3年多前的原贴

可怜的大狼。

While Intel and AMD account for most of the volume, a fair number of servers (which make up a substantial part of revenue) run other chip architectures. At the annual Hot Chips conference yesterday, representatives from IBM, Oracle, and Fujitsu discussed the architectures their organizations will use in creating high-end microprocessors, typically used in applications ranging from mainframes to high-performance computing. All of these are large processors and tend to use the most advanced techniques. In addition, Applied Micro showed off what is likely to be the first 64-bit ARM server chip to ship, while Intel detailed its existing Xeon E5 processor. (I wrote about other AMD and Intel's offerings yesterday.)

IBM's Scott Taylor discussed the next Power 7+ microprocessor, used in the company's Power systems, typically used for ERP, OLTP, and Java. This chip features eight processor cores, with four-way symmetric multithreading, allowing for a total of 32 threads per chip. Each core has 256KB of level 2 cache, and, in a concept introduced with the earlier Power 7, the chip has 80MB of embedded DRAM as a shared level 3 cache (in contrast with the SRAM usually used as cache in most chips). It is designed to support systems up to 32 sockets. As you might expect, this is a big chip, measuring 567 square millimeters manufactured on a 32nm SOI process.



What's new in this version? It has 2.5 times the amount of level 3 memory, an improved core that allows for up to a 25 percent improvement in frequency, a doubling of single precision floating-point performance, dedicated accelerators to speed up tasks like SSL and file encryption, random number generation, and more power gating for better power management. The Power 7+ is meant to be socket-compatible with the older Power 7, including support for a dual-chip module, which would give a system twice the number of cores and five times the amount of L3 cache as with the earlier chip.                                                     

For its mainframe business, IBM showed off its zNext, its third-generation high frequency microprocessor capable of running at up to 5.5GHz, the highest rated speed I've seen for a mass produced server chip. This is the heart of the new zEnterprise EC12 mainframe.

      

Compared with the previous version (the z196), the zNext will have six cores instead of four and runs at 5.5GHz rather than 5GHz. IBM's Chung-Lung (Kevin) Shum touted advances in the cores themselves, including improved out-of-order operations and a streamlined pipeline, as well as improvements in the cache subsystem. The chip has 48MB of embedded DRAM as a shared level 3 cache, twice as much as the previous version. IBM says this will be the first general purpose microprocessor to support hardware transactions memory and self-directed runtime profiling to help the system tune itself.

Overall, the processor uses 2.75 billion transistors on a 597 square millimeter chip produced on a 32nm SOI process.

In the SPARC family, both Fujitsu and Oracle showed new 16-core architectures, as each takes the architecture originally designed by Sun in different directions.

Fujitsu's Takumi Maruyama showed off the SPARC64 X, a new generation process aimed at UNIX servers. The idea here is to combine features from the company's previous generations aimed at UNIX servers (SPARC64 VII+, which offered a high frequency, up to 3GHz) and high performance computing (SPARC64 VIIfx, which had a higher memory bandwidth). In addition, it adds new hardware acceleration for decimal operations, encryption, and database acceleration.  

     

The Sparc64 X has 16 cores with two threads each, 24MB of level 2 cache, and runs at up to 3GHz, with over 100GB/s peak memory bandwidth. Overall, it uses 2.95 billion transistors on a 540 square millimeter die on a 28nm CMOS process. Fujitsu claims top performance at 382 Gigaflops (billions of floating point instructions per second), and says it has shown seven times the throughput of the Sparc64 VII+.

Oracle's Sebastian Turullols and Ram Sivaramakrishnan showed off the SPARC T5, a 16-core processor optimized for Oracle workloads and engineered systems produced at 28nm. The basic processor includes 16 of the SPARC S3 cores running at 3.6GHz, along with 8MB of shared L3 cache. The cores seem to be shrinks from the 40nm T4, with dynamic threading allowing up to eight "strands" per core, with advanced on-chip encryption acceleration designed to work with the Solaris ZFS file system for faster system encryption. Each core has a 128KB level 2 cache and a crossbar interconnect links the 16 cores to an 8MB 16-way level 3 cache.   



This mostly seems to be a shrink of the SPARC T4, but what's different is that the chips are specifically designed to allow for eight-way "glueless scalability." (In other words, designers can connect up to eight chips without any other logic chips controlling them, compared with four chips in the previous generation.) This uses a directory to track all of the level 3 caches in the system and maintain coherency among them, with a high-speed internode coherency fabric. Oracle didn't disclose the chip size.

Perhaps the most interesting architecture, and certainly the newest, comes from Applied Micro, which showed off its upcoming 64-bit ARM-based CPU known as X-Gene, available later this year. Gaurav Singh and Greg Favor talked about how many workloads are moving from being CPU intensive to being data movement intensive. Applied Micro has an ARM architectural license, so it has designed its own cores around the ARMv8 instruction set. The company says it will result in a high-performance, but low-power microarchitecture aimed at balancing performance, power, and size.



This is built on compute modules which have two 64-bit cores (a four-way out-of-order superscalar microarchitecture) and a shared L2 cache. Each of these cores has its own 128-bit SIMD floating point unit. Multiple modules (it showed three in the diagram) would be connected to a shared L3 cache, and the system is designed to have multiple chips all connected on a interconnect bus with DRAM and 10Gbit networking. Applied Micro calls it the "world's first true low power server on chip." A number of other companies have started showing ARM-based server chips including Marvell and Calxeda (with indications that Cavium, Nvidia, and Samsung are working on it), but it looks like Applied Micro will be the first to bring a 64-bit ARM server chip to market.

Also in this session, Intel talked about its more mainstream Xeon E5 processor, known as Sandy Bridge-EP. This is an eight core, 16 thread chip produced on a 32nm process, using a high bandwidth ring interconnect that is already shipping as part of the company's Romley platform.



Intel's Jeff Gilbert and Mark Rowland described how the changes from the Nehalem/Westmere architecture to the Sandy Bridge cores, plus the addition of the on-die ring interconnect, additional memory channels and faster inter-socket communications (QPI) helped improve performance, while changes such as running average power limiting helped reduce power consumption.

This has quickly become the mainstream server processor and on a volume basis, I wouldn't be surprised if it outsold all the others combined. Still, it's interesting to see how other vendors continue to find niches and applications for a variety of other designs.

朕，皇帝陛下（不过这一次未必能在御座上待很久）！


频率才是王道，384M off-chip L4威武霸气不解释


SPRAC64VIIIfx-IXfx-X，Fuji人品爆发了……


实话说远不如SPARC64X拉风，就看cost能做到什么程度了


本次hotchips最大的亮点，many-ARM for Server/HPC，ARMv8架构

http://forwardthinking.pcmag.com/none/302169-high-end-server-chips-debut-at-hot-chips-12

可惜Haswell-EX出来太晚。

可惜Haswell-EX出来太晚。
Haswell-EX。。。先搞定Ivy Bridge-EX再说吧
别忘了POWER8预定Q4'13发布

国内刨出了603e，差10多年吧

堕天之翼 发表于 2012-9-13 11:23
Haswell-EX。。。先搞定Ivy Bridge-EX再说吧
别忘了POWER8预定Q4'13发布
啊，那Haswell-EX能在P8发布后不久面世。

啊，那Haswell-EX能在P8发布后不久面世。
Haswell-EX在Power8面前不会有什么机会的，性能差距太大
木有意外的话，P8完全有可能再现P7的辉煌

堕天之翼 发表于 2012-9-13 18:31
Haswell-EX在Power8面前不会有什么机会的，性能差距太大
木有意外的话，P8完全有可能再现P7的辉煌
Haswell-EX应该是16核心，8通道DDR4内存控制器，SPEC fp_rate估计是450起步。

你估计P8在什么水平？

deam 发表于 2012-9-13 18:33
Haswell-EX应该是16核心，8通道DDR4内存控制器，SPEC fp_rate估计是450起步。

你估计P8在什么水平？
接近P7的3倍，起码IBM的路线图上是这样写的

堕天之翼 发表于 2012-9-13 23:41
接近P7的3倍，起码IBM的路线图上是这样写的
哇不是吧，那岂不又成了胜一个插槽么？

哇不是吧，那岂不又成了胜一个插槽么？
习惯就好。。。以后让插槽很可能成为常态

IBM Launches New zEnterprise EC12 Secure Cloud-Focused Mainframe System

IBM announced a new version of its zEnterprise mainframe system with enhanced security for cloud computing and enterprise data handling.
IBM has announced a new mainframe system, the zEnterprise EC12 mainframe server.
Big Blue calls its new mainframe the most powerful and technologically advanced version of an IBM system that has been the linchpin of enterprise computing for 48 years.
The new enterprise system, unveiled on Aug. 28, features technologies that demonstrate IBM’s ongoing commitment to meet the growing need to secure and manage critical information with the System z mainframe, David Balog, IBM’s general manager for System z, told eWEEK.
“The new system has 25 percent more performance and 50 percent more capacity than its predecessor,” he said.
Mainframes support significant portions of the data environment at most large enterprises, IBM said. As these enterprises grapple with the well-documented growth of data, they are looking for new ways to secure and gain insights from such critical information as financial, customer and enterprise resource data that will enable them to provide their clients with new services. The new zEC12 offers enhanced security and robust support for operational analytics that can help clients efficiently sift through large volumes of raw data and transform it to gain knowledge that can be used for competitive advantage. For example, a retailer managing online transactions on zEC12 can gain insights from client information that will enable it to provide clients with a more customized shopping experience.
The IBM zEC12 enterprise system is the result of an investment by IBM Systems and Technology Group of more than $1 billion in IBM research and development primarily in Poughkeepsie, NY, as well as 17 other IBM labs around the world and in collaboration with some of IBM's top clients, Balog said.
The new IBM mainframe is one of the most secure enterprise systems ever, with built-in security features designed to meet the security and compliance requirements of different industries, he said. With operational analytics and near real-time workload monitoring and analysis, clients can use the new zEC12 for a variety of workloads leveraging the world’s fastest chip running at 5.5 GHz, IBM said.
Security is paramount in the new system. IBM System z is a leading platform for secure data serving and has achieved Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 5+ security classification, enabling enterprises to run many different applications containing confidential data on a single mainframe. The new zEC12 builds on this.
zEC12 includes a tamper-resistant cryptographic co-processor called Crypto Express4S that provides privacy for transactions and sensitive data. Crypto Express4S includes new hardware and software developed with IBM Research to help meet the security requirements of different industries and geographies. For example, it can be configured to provide support for high-quality digital signatures used with applications for Smart passports, national ID cards and online legal proceedings, replacing handwritten signatures as directed by the EU and the public sector, IBM said.
IBM said SC Data Center provides services to Colony Brands Inc., one of the world’s largest and most successful catalog companies, and uses encryption technology on zEnterprise to protect its call center applications when it services customers and takes orders, protecting its e-commerce platform that relies on System z for all sales and credit transactions and moves sensitive data safely to other platforms for processing.
Meanwhile, zEC12 advances performance for analytics, increasing performance of analytic workloads by 30 percent compared to its IBM predecessor, Balog said. In addition, support for the IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator that incorporates the Netezza data warehouse appliance into zEC12 enables clients to run complex business analytics and operational analytics on the same platform.
Balog added that the new mainframe also offers IT systems analytics capabilities based on technology from IBM Research. It analyzes internal system messages to provide a near real-time view of the system’s health, including any potential problems. Called IBM zAware, the technology learns from the messages to recognize patterns and quickly pinpoint any deviations, using the information to identify unusual system behavior and minimize its impact. IBM STG Lab Services will offer services to help with planning, configuration and implementation of IBM zAware.
“This is where transaction processing is going – there are more and more analytics going into the system,” Balog said.
In addition, users can consolidate thousands of distributed systems on to Linux on zEC12, lowering IT operating expenses associated with energy use, floor space and software licensing. zEC12 can offer a low total cost of acquisition for Linux consolidation of database workloads. One zEC12 can encompass the capacity of an entire multi-platform data center in a single system.
And another key innovation for the system is that zEC12 is the first IBM mainframe to include internal solid state technology with Flash Express, a new memory technology that can help improve the performance of data intensive applications or workloads where optimal service levels are vital such as customer facing or service applications used by banks, public sector companies and retailers, Balog said. It is designed to provide improved availability during bursts of system activity experienced at transitional periods such as when financial markets open or holiday periods when online retail transactions are heavy.
Moreover, enterprises can also opt to run zEC12 without a raised datacenter floor -- a first for high-end IBM mainframes. With new overhead power and cabling support, clients have more flexibility on where zEC12 is deployed. This can increase the appeal of System z for enterprise clients in growth markets, where System z revenue was up 11 percent year to year in the second quarter of 2012, according to IBM earnings reports.
Also, zEC12 is the first general purpose IBM server to incorporate transactional memory technology, first used commercially to help make the IBM Blue Gene/Q-based “Sequoia” system at Lawrence Livermore National Lab the fastest supercomputer in the world. In zEC12, IBM adapted this technology to enable software to better support concurrent operations that use a shared set of data such as financial institutions processing transactions against the same set of accounts.
“We continue to drive innovation on System z, allowing a broader set of clients to apply its leadership capabilities in security and resiliency to the current demands of their business, be they from analytics, cloud or mobile computing,” Balog said in a statement. “Our end-to-end design approach for smarter computing -- from processors to systems to software optimization -- is targeted to handle complicated business challenges associated with managing, protecting and analyzing a client's most critical information. It’s what makes the mainframe the ultimate enterprise system.”
Balog noted that in 2010, IBM introduced hybrid computing with the launch of the IBM zEnterprise System and the IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) to allow enterprises to deploy and integrate workloads across mainframe, Power7 and System x servers. Using zEnterprise Unified Resource Management, these diverse resources can be managed as a single, virtualized system.
Now IBM has introduced the zBX Model 003 to help extend customer’s ability to run integrated and dynamic workloads. With simplified operational control and an integrated, high-performance, private and secure network, the zBX Model 003 is designed to run with zEC12. Like its predecessor, the latest zBX includes specialty processors for specific workloads such as the IBM WebSphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50 for zEnterprise and select IBM BladeCenter servers.
As of second quarter 2012, IBM had shipped over 140 zBX units with more than 1,000 blade servers to clients, enabling them to take advantage of the management and reduced complexity of hybrid computing on the platform.
Meanwhile, IBM also announced it is growing its portfolio of System z industry-focused solutions that package software from IBM or ISV partners and services or assets from IBM Global Business Services. These include the IBM Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, IBM Health Plan Integration Hub, two IBM Smarter Analytics: Anti-Fraud, Waste and Abuse Solutions – one for healthcare, one for insurance -- and the IBM Genelco Insurance Administration Solution. Offering these solutions on System z can allow clients to benefit from the mainframe’s oft-touted advantages of high-availability, resiliency and security.
IBM also announced new services and financing for its mainframe customers. To help clients build private clouds more rapidly, IBM today announced new implementation services for Linux-based clouds on the mainframe. The new services deliver IBM processes, tools, skills and best practices that enable a fast and accurate implementation.
To help current mainframe clients looking to upgrade to zEC12, IBM also offers newly enhanced setup and migration services to drive more long term economic value from their system investments. And IBM Global Financing (IGF) can help customers evolve and grow their zEnterprise investments with financing that promotes greater flexibility, lower total cost of ownership and predictability of payments, Big Blue officials said.

IBM Launches New zEnterprise EC12 Secure Cloud-Focused Mainframe System

IBM announced a new version of its zEnterprise mainframe system with enhanced security for cloud computing and enterprise data handling.
IBM has announced a new mainframe system, the zEnterprise EC12 mainframe server.
Big Blue calls its new mainframe the most powerful and technologically advanced version of an IBM system that has been the linchpin of enterprise computing for 48 years.
The new enterprise system, unveiled on Aug. 28, features technologies that demonstrate IBM’s ongoing commitment to meet the growing need to secure and manage critical information with the System z mainframe, David Balog, IBM’s general manager for System z, told eWEEK.
“The new system has 25 percent more performance and 50 percent more capacity than its predecessor,” he said.
Mainframes support significant portions of the data environment at most large enterprises, IBM said. As these enterprises grapple with the well-documented growth of data, they are looking for new ways to secure and gain insights from such critical information as financial, customer and enterprise resource data that will enable them to provide their clients with new services. The new zEC12 offers enhanced security and robust support for operational analytics that can help clients efficiently sift through large volumes of raw data and transform it to gain knowledge that can be used for competitive advantage. For example, a retailer managing online transactions on zEC12 can gain insights from client information that will enable it to provide clients with a more customized shopping experience.
The IBM zEC12 enterprise system is the result of an investment by IBM Systems and Technology Group of more than $1 billion in IBM research and development primarily in Poughkeepsie, NY, as well as 17 other IBM labs around the world and in collaboration with some of IBM's top clients, Balog said.
The new IBM mainframe is one of the most secure enterprise systems ever, with built-in security features designed to meet the security and compliance requirements of different industries, he said. With operational analytics and near real-time workload monitoring and analysis, clients can use the new zEC12 for a variety of workloads leveraging the world’s fastest chip running at 5.5 GHz, IBM said.
Security is paramount in the new system. IBM System z is a leading platform for secure data serving and has achieved Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 5+ security classification, enabling enterprises to run many different applications containing confidential data on a single mainframe. The new zEC12 builds on this.
zEC12 includes a tamper-resistant cryptographic co-processor called Crypto Express4S that provides privacy for transactions and sensitive data. Crypto Express4S includes new hardware and software developed with IBM Research to help meet the security requirements of different industries and geographies. For example, it can be configured to provide support for high-quality digital signatures used with applications for Smart passports, national ID cards and online legal proceedings, replacing handwritten signatures as directed by the EU and the public sector, IBM said.
IBM said SC Data Center provides services to Colony Brands Inc., one of the world’s largest and most successful catalog companies, and uses encryption technology on zEnterprise to protect its call center applications when it services customers and takes orders, protecting its e-commerce platform that relies on System z for all sales and credit transactions and moves sensitive data safely to other platforms for processing.
Meanwhile, zEC12 advances performance for analytics, increasing performance of analytic workloads by 30 percent compared to its IBM predecessor, Balog said. In addition, support for the IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator that incorporates the Netezza data warehouse appliance into zEC12 enables clients to run complex business analytics and operational analytics on the same platform.
Balog added that the new mainframe also offers IT systems analytics capabilities based on technology from IBM Research. It analyzes internal system messages to provide a near real-time view of the system’s health, including any potential problems. Called IBM zAware, the technology learns from the messages to recognize patterns and quickly pinpoint any deviations, using the information to identify unusual system behavior and minimize its impact. IBM STG Lab Services will offer services to help with planning, configuration and implementation of IBM zAware.
“This is where transaction processing is going – there are more and more analytics going into the system,” Balog said.
In addition, users can consolidate thousands of distributed systems on to Linux on zEC12, lowering IT operating expenses associated with energy use, floor space and software licensing. zEC12 can offer a low total cost of acquisition for Linux consolidation of database workloads. One zEC12 can encompass the capacity of an entire multi-platform data center in a single system.
And another key innovation for the system is that zEC12 is the first IBM mainframe to include internal solid state technology with Flash Express, a new memory technology that can help improve the performance of data intensive applications or workloads where optimal service levels are vital such as customer facing or service applications used by banks, public sector companies and retailers, Balog said. It is designed to provide improved availability during bursts of system activity experienced at transitional periods such as when financial markets open or holiday periods when online retail transactions are heavy.
Moreover, enterprises can also opt to run zEC12 without a raised datacenter floor -- a first for high-end IBM mainframes. With new overhead power and cabling support, clients have more flexibility on where zEC12 is deployed. This can increase the appeal of System z for enterprise clients in growth markets, where System z revenue was up 11 percent year to year in the second quarter of 2012, according to IBM earnings reports.
Also, zEC12 is the first general purpose IBM server to incorporate transactional memory technology, first used commercially to help make the IBM Blue Gene/Q-based “Sequoia” system at Lawrence Livermore National Lab the fastest supercomputer in the world. In zEC12, IBM adapted this technology to enable software to better support concurrent operations that use a shared set of data such as financial institutions processing transactions against the same set of accounts.
“We continue to drive innovation on System z, allowing a broader set of clients to apply its leadership capabilities in security and resiliency to the current demands of their business, be they from analytics, cloud or mobile computing,” Balog said in a statement. “Our end-to-end design approach for smarter computing -- from processors to systems to software optimization -- is targeted to handle complicated business challenges associated with managing, protecting and analyzing a client's most critical information. It’s what makes the mainframe the ultimate enterprise system.”
Balog noted that in 2010, IBM introduced hybrid computing with the launch of the IBM zEnterprise System and the IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) to allow enterprises to deploy and integrate workloads across mainframe, Power7 and System x servers. Using zEnterprise Unified Resource Management, these diverse resources can be managed as a single, virtualized system.
Now IBM has introduced the zBX Model 003 to help extend customer’s ability to run integrated and dynamic workloads. With simplified operational control and an integrated, high-performance, private and secure network, the zBX Model 003 is designed to run with zEC12. Like its predecessor, the latest zBX includes specialty processors for specific workloads such as the IBM WebSphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50 for zEnterprise and select IBM BladeCenter servers.
As of second quarter 2012, IBM had shipped over 140 zBX units with more than 1,000 blade servers to clients, enabling them to take advantage of the management and reduced complexity of hybrid computing on the platform.
Meanwhile, IBM also announced it is growing its portfolio of System z industry-focused solutions that package software from IBM or ISV partners and services or assets from IBM Global Business Services. These include the IBM Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, IBM Health Plan Integration Hub, two IBM Smarter Analytics: Anti-Fraud, Waste and Abuse Solutions – one for healthcare, one for insurance -- and the IBM Genelco Insurance Administration Solution. Offering these solutions on System z can allow clients to benefit from the mainframe’s oft-touted advantages of high-availability, resiliency and security.
IBM also announced new services and financing for its mainframe customers. To help clients build private clouds more rapidly, IBM today announced new implementation services for Linux-based clouds on the mainframe. The new services deliver IBM processes, tools, skills and best practices that enable a fast and accurate implementation.
To help current mainframe clients looking to upgrade to zEC12, IBM also offers newly enhanced setup and migration services to drive more long term economic value from their system investments. And IBM Global Financing (IGF) can help customers evolve and grow their zEnterprise investments with financing that promotes greater flexibility, lower total cost of ownership and predictability of payments, Big Blue officials said.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Launches-New-zEnterprise-EC12-Secure-Cloudfocused-Mainframe-System-499189/

莫名其妙的装13
既然PowerPC A2 的架构与Cell类似 ，还说什么“简单同构”。
精分么？

莫名其妙的装13
既然PowerPC A2 的架构与Cell类似 ，还说什么“简单同构”。
精分么？
很遗憾，Power A2恰恰是如假包换的简单同构
所谓的管理构心，不过是"被配置为"罢了