IBM's Power 4: Questions
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I see all kinds of info about the 970 (and POWER4). We know all about it. But how come EVERY IBM ad I see on TV always ends with "featuring the Intel xxx processor"? I never hear any public info regarding the POWER4.
Does the 970 NOT run Windows 2003? I assumes the POWER4 is for AIX and/or Linux servers only, correct? I have looked at IBMs site, but I don't see the specific info regarding platforms and operating environments.
Since chips are not cheap to make, whay does IBM hedge it's bets and not only use Intel's CPUs but they also make thir own? To me this seems very expensive. What is their strategy?
Don't get me wrong- I have a bOner for the 970 too, guys. I am just curious about IBMs usage of this family of chip.
I see all kinds of info about the 970 (and POWER4). We know all about it. But how come EVERY IBM ad I see on TV always ends with "featuring the Intel xxx processor"? I never hear any public info regarding the POWER4.
Does the 970 NOT run Windows 2003? I assumes the POWER4 is for AIX and/or Linux servers only, correct? I have looked at IBMs site, but I don't see the specific info regarding platforms and operating environments.
Since chips are not cheap to make, whay does IBM hedge it's bets and not only use Intel's CPUs but they also make thir own? To me this seems very expensive. What is their strategy?
Don't get me wrong- I have a bOner for the 970 too, guys. I am just curious about IBMs usage of this family of chip.
Comments
Originally posted by dstranathan
Since chips are not cheap to make, whay does IBM hedge it's bets and not only use Intel's CPUs but they also make thir own? To me this seems very expensive. What is their strategy?
To answer simply: IBM's goal is to have a solution for every customer. If a smaller customer wants blade servers running Windows to serve Apps, etc. to their windows PC's, IBM has your solution. If a customer needs massive storage, CPU power, 64-bit database, etc., IBM has the Power4. The Power4 is extremely powerful, but, it is suited for large resource intensive customers. The Intel servers are for mid-to-smaller customers.
I'm curious to see how the IBM sales staff works the 970 into their strategy. Do they have many customers clamoring for 64-bit Linux? I have no idea.
Originally posted by dstranathan
But how come EVERY IBM ad I see on TV always ends with "featuring the Intel xxx processor"? I never hear any public info regarding the POWER4.
Maybe the people who buy Power4 servers are smart enough that they don't need to be bombarded with TV commercials. Also, whenever you see an ad that says "featuring the Intel xxx processor", part of that ad was paid for by Intel. I guess if Intel pays IBM to run ads, that's what kind of ads you get.
Does the 970 NOT run Windows 2003? I assumes the POWER4 is for AIX and/or Linux servers only, correct?
Right.
This market is open (the middle end and high end server market),and IBM want to be the leader. If IBM (who is also a chip maker) employ Itanium chips, he will aloud others companies to compet with him directly. If IBM is the only one to have the power X chips, and if this chips are the fastest, then nobody can compet with them at least directly.
We will notice also that the PPC 970 alow IBM to have a whole family of 64 bit family of chips from the low end to the high end (with the power 4) server market. It's not the case of the Intel servers where the low end with Xeon in it and the high end with Itanium in it.
In the IBM world you have only one class of chips, at the contrary of Intel who have two differents lines of chips.
In term of maintenance and compatibility one line of chips is definitevely better than two lines. That's why the PPC 970 is not only precious for Apple.