IBM POWER10 Processor Announced

by Adam Armstrong August 17, 2020

written by Adam Armstrong August 17, 2020

Earlier today, IBM reveled a new next generation CPU family, the IBM POWER10. This is a 7nm CPU that is designed to meet the needs of enterprise hybrid cloud computing. The new CPU family is specifically co-optimized for Red Hat OpenShift, no surprise there.

IBM POWER10

It has taken IBM over 5 years to design the IBM POWER10. The CPU is a 7nm form factor. To deliver this, IBM partnered with Samsung. The form factor helps to deliver energy efficiency (up to three times processor energy efficiency per socket compared to the IBM POWER9) and capacity. The capacity bump will lead to support up to 3x increases in users, workloads and OpenShift container density for hybrid cloud workloads, again compared to the IBM POWER9. Scaled over multiple data centers this will lead to a huge cost reduction.

The IBM POWER10 is also ready for AI. AI is becoming integral to several aspects of modern workflows and is highly beneficial to others. IBM states that its new CPU will enhance in-core AI inferencing capability without requiring additional specialized hardware. The company claims it can achieve 10x, 15x, and 20x faster AI inference for FP32, BFloat16 and INT8 calculations respectively to improve performance for enterprise AI inference workloads as compared to IBM POWER9. This is done through the embedded Matrix Math Accelerator.

IBM POWER10 Features include:

IBM’s First Commercialized 7nm Processor that is expected to deliver up to a 3x improvement in capacity and processor energy efficiency within the same power envelope as IBM POWER9, allowing for greater performance.
Support for Multi-Petabyte Memory Clusters with a breakthrough new technology called Memory Inception, designed to improve cloud capacity and economics for memory-intensive workloads from ISVs like SAP, the SAS Institute, and others as well as large-model AI inference.
New Hardware-Enabled Security Capabilities including transparent memory encryption designed to support end-to-end security. The IBM POWER10 processor is engineered to achieve significantly faster encryption performance with quadruple the number of AES encryption engines per core compared to IBM POWER9 for today’s most demanding standards and anticipated future cryptographic standards like quantum-safe cryptography and fully homomorphic encryption. It also brings new enhancements to container security.
New Processor Core Architectures in the IBM POWER10 processor with an embedded Matrix Math Accelerator which is extrapolated to provide 10x, 15x and 20x faster AI inference for FP32, BFloat16 and INT8 calculations per socket respectively than the IBM POWER9 processor to infuse AI into business applications and drive greater insights.

IBM Power Systems

Engage with StorageReview