IBM Promoting POWER Systems 135
A reader writes:"IBM has launched a Open Power Project to
increase awareness around its Open Power product line for Linux.. The
site includes technical information, forums and provides the ability to
tinker w/ Open Power platforms at the University of Augsburg and Peking
University. Both Universities are hosting POWER5-based servers and are
providing free SSH account access to the Open Source development
community. There are rumors of additional Universities to come. They are
also hosting special showings of the War of the Worlds in San Francisco
and NYC. Looks like there are a couple of hundred pairs of free tickets
to each showing on a first come first served basis to those that register."
REALLY?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Intel promoting Pentium Systems"
"AMD Promoting Athlon Systems"
"Microsoft promoting Windows"
Now,
"IBM Promoting POWER Systems"
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:4, Informative)
A more accurate comparison would be:
"AMD promoting Athlon64 Systems"
Even that is not much of a comparison as the Athlon64 range is a much greater percentage of AMD's product than OpenPower servers are of IBM's.
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hate the name. Running linux doesn't make the architecture "Open". For an affordable power based workstation look here [pegasosppc.com]. It runs a few different distros of linux and other os's and more are in the works.
I don't really agree with all the hype around IBM's open source moves. Seems like a lot of what they are doing is using open source as a way to get salespeople in the door to sell proprietary IBM solutions. That's not necessarily a bad thing depending on how it's done. Look at some of the Apache projects, things like Jetty where IBM was a big supporter until they decided it was good enough to fork it internally for WebSphere Portal. That's not so bad, the license allows it but it's still a bit messed up in my opinion.
But other things like Derby and Geronimo are different all together. Take a look at the IBM Cloudscape pages. Cloudscape is not open source. It's "open source-based". They released the code as the Apache Derby project, but Cloudscape is not an open source project. The download link says "trials and betas". It may be free now but it has the potential of not being free when IBM senses it can charge for more than just support. Why would IBM release this? It's not because there weren't other open source java based RDBMS's out there. Hypersonic and Mckoi were already quite popular in that space and there are more. The difference is, Cloudscape has been designed to be a stepping stone to DB2. The java rdbms's have a niche market. One segment of which is users that want an easy portable system to develop on with little administrative requirements. These types generally outgrow the capabilities of such database systems and the user needs to migrate. If you're already using Cloudscape, the logical migration path is DB2. Which definately isn't free.
Also look at their recent acquisition of Gluecode. This gives them the developers of the Geronimo project. It's going to turn into Websphere-Lite. Same type of deal with Cloudscape. Both of these will be at the expense of open source software that is trying to be real open source, not just a carrot on a stick. Hopefully people see this and projects like Jonas and JBoss continue to grow.
I feel IBM is abusing the phrase "Open Source" in it's marketting where it's not appropriate. Like a couple of days ago when they announced they were moving to a more open source type of development for all their projects. They didn't say they were open sourcing all their projects, just that they will be using open source methodologies within IBM. I guess you could call it the Bazaar in the Cathedral. Yet so many mistakenly took the news to mean that ibm was doing more with open source and releasing more products via open source.
To me it looks like IBM is turning Open Source into shareware. They have their free versions to tinker around with but when you're ready for the real thing, a non crippled version, you have to pay for it. From Jonathan Schwartz's Weblog [sun.com] we have this quote:
A similar message is presented (though a little less harshly) when IBM compares AIX to Linix [ibm.com]
Also look at Eclipse. It's used as an IDE but in many respects it is crippled in that regard, it's real purpose is as a tools platform. To get real productivity out of it you need to purchase plug-ins or upgrade to professional tools based on Eclipse like WebSphere Studio. The Eclipse Foundation is working on a number of open sourc
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:1)
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:2)
Re:REALLY?!? (Score:1)
How slow will this be? (Score:3, Insightful)
The servers at my school ran painfully slow with a few dozen people connected through SSH and compiling assignments.
Imagine the whole Open Source community logged in compiling code.
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:1)
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:1)
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:3, Interesting)
These handled the load VERY well, and even could handle MULTIPLE remote-X sessions of Pro/Engineer (serious CAD software) across the campus network to the dorms. Maybe hardware or maybe just AIX, but they could certanly handle a beating and keep on ticking responsively.
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:1)
In order of speed (for compiling and CAD work):
1) HP Visualize Workstation C300. Runs 64-bit PA-RISC chip and costs about $500. By far the fastest machine to compile and design on. The HP compiler whines about everything though.
2) Solari
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:2)
I also do agree that Solaris is the friendliest, or at least the "cleanest feeling" commercial UNIX. Never messed much with HP-UX b
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:1)
I would recommend the HP-UX platform for persons who wanted to get their feet wet in the world of UNIX. They are a fraction of the price of their more well known SUN and IBM counterparts, an
Re:How slow will this be? (Score:2)
My school is running a fairly old quad-CPU Sun Sparc server with 4 GB of RAM. I don't know the exact clock frequency of it (how do you check that in Solaris?), but it is less than 1 GHz. Most of the time, more than 100 people are logged into it, and there are no speed problems whatsoever.
I happen to have an account at the University of Augsburg as mentioned in this article, and that thing has 8 1.65 GHz POWER5 CPUs and 8 GBs of RAM. When I compile st
but... (Score:2, Funny)
PowerPC (Score:2, Funny)
Re:PowerPC (Score:1, Interesting)
You kow what I would like to see? If Apple kept supporting PowerPC, but just in Powermacs, that would be great. An even better idea w
Re:PowerPC (Score:2, Informative)
We have an IBM netfinity server, dual p3, and all we've ever had to do to it was replace one drive in our 1/2 TB array. It's an absolute beauty to use, and worth every penny we paid for it.
Re:PowerPC (Score:1)
nothing wrong with a P133 for a firewall/mail/dhcp server/content filter!
Re:PowerPC (Score:1, Insightful)
promotion (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:promotion (Score:1)
Re:promotion (Score:2)
Re:promotion (Score:2)
You mean like a Playstation 3?
Re:promotion (Score:2)
Another article today lists iPods and Blackberries as some of the fastest growing businesses, and lately laptops have overtaken desktops in sales volume. I never really liked being tied to these desktop computers anyway, I want to do my computin
IBM = movie moguls? (Score:1)
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:2)
Smells like free advertising to me, too.
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:3, Funny)
They're leveraging a cross-brand multi-market upscale potential to maximize their mindspace and returning revenue streams.
Tom
Stop it! (Score:2)
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:2)
They mark-didilie-arketing their computer-inos
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:1)
anyone else tired of hearing this marketing buzzword that equates to absolutely NOTHING in the real world of computering?
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:3, Funny)
I've been lucky so far and nobody has caught on that I spent over half my time in meetings mentally undressing the cutest female in the office [which varies with location] or just playing SMB1 in my head... which I can do fairly well at this point...
Tom
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:1)
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:2)
Tom
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:1)
Re:IBM = movie moguls? (Score:1)
Tinkering (Score:3, Insightful)
I prefer to tinker with my x86 box at home.
Re:Tinkering (Score:1)
"Open" Power? (Score:5, Insightful)
I generally like what IBM does, and use their x86 servers, storage, and software.
But "Open" is pushing it here.
I'd never be able to justify a recommendation to buy Open Power, that is, unless the sales guy left a flashy car in my parking spot...
Jonathan Schwartz (Sun CTO) had it right when he noted that that was as silly as them shipping Open Sparc boxes. Mind you, there are Fujitsu SPARC64 chips, and OEM sparc-based system builders.
Of course, IBM is just loving Solaris, particularly Solaris 10. Some assistance in your Solaris to Linux on Power migration? http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/libra
(Though it is a well written piece - good quick guide to Linux and Solaris system calls, signals.)
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:1)
The real power of the open power concept is that IBM is opening the design of the entire architecture. [ibm.com] Has anyone else ever done that? Nothing on this scale that I know about.
The article is about a particular part of this open process - allowing developers free access to an OpenPower 710 server. Have you looked at these things? The price [infoworld.com] is hard to beat for the performance.
By the way - IBM does sell AIX 5.3 f [ibm.com]
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:3, Insightful)
You're right that it doesn't run AIX; but that's the whole point of the OpenPower
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:2)
Yeha it's not cheap in the same way that Adolph Hitler was not a nice guy. (Yeah I watched The Daily Show last night and I'm *still* going making a Hitler comparison).
Their low end machine is on sale for a mere $8,881.55
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:2)
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:2)
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:1)
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:2)
The POWER chip is a different story, and yes, is availble in other lines of IBM servers that do run a wider range of OSes.
Virtualization is your friend, but don't get the sales people started...
Re:"Open" Power? (Score:1)
I assume you mean it's silly because IBM is the only source for POWER, so it's not very open. Schwartz wrote as much in his blog entry on OpenPower [sun.com]. His main gripe is that the box doesn't run AIX (that's a bad thing?!). So the real question is, does POWER's awesome integer (read database) performance justify double or treble the hardware cost of an x86 server?
If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:2, Funny)
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:2, Interesting)
That sounds like an excellent way to sell POWER systems. So you would give them a credit card to put a hold on while you're evaluating the system and if you like it you keep it and they charge you... if not you send it back with a modest 10% restocking fee. I like it.
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:1)
Normally you can expect to pay $10,995 for other high end unix servers, but act now and you can get this IBM POWER 5 server for only three equal payments of $1999.95, and we'll also throw in a copy of Red Hat Linux for Dummies, part of the popular 'For Dummies' series that you most certainly have on your shelves at home already! Use priority code 'POWER5' and get an additional 64 meg USB Dongle ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:1)
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:1)
I think that IBM should try its damnedest to put out a dual processor Power5 system for $1000, you supply the disks. Saturate the market, and offer two-tier service, ie. No service or IBM service. IBM has competed in the clone market, and still came out ahead. It competed in the laptop market and still came out ahead. It can compete in this market and, even if they lo
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:2)
What if they did? What if you could get a dual G5 PPC machine with say... 512M RAM and a decent disk (I have no idea whats "decent" these days... 160G?), for $1,500 ballpark? Would you buy one? Would your friends?
I know my wife would kill me if I brought another machine home, but a Dual G5 could replace
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:1)
Lower prices on motherboards, the ability to go four-way processors, etc. would bring more life into the chip, so they don't have to constantly pump out more clock speeds, etc. Moore's law need not apply. The platform could last the home user ten years, plenty of time to introduce new chips, etc. Things get too slow, throw a couple more processors in. Then more RAM, then faster processors, then max out the RAM. Much easier th
Re:If IBM wants to promote Power (Score:1)
i dunno (Score:4, Insightful)
If IBM wants to push their system they may do well to subsidize cheap PPC systems to this particular niche to gain mindshare, familiarity, and visibility with people who may be in a position to drive iseries server purchases later on.
I know they have eval systems, does anyone know what the costs are?
Or maybe it wouldn't help; it'd still be nice.
Re:i dunno (Score:1, Informative)
Re:i dunno (Score:2)
Re:i dunno (Score:2)
Re:i dunno (Score:2)
No, iSeries is the former AS/400 [ibm.com].
Re:i dunno (Score:2)
Re:i dunno (Score:1)
Re:i dunno (Score:2)
No, they aren't.
The dysfunctional hardware that's been sporadically hawked for several years now to a closed off "Amiga market" as so called "AmigaOnes" for $800-900 a piece are relabelled $500 Teron series motherboards from Mai Logic. Only some 700 suckers bit the bait. Also, they are only sold in G3 configs, not G4. It is unclear if Mai Logic are still alive, but what is clear is tha
What does "Open" mean? (Score:3, Funny)
For example, "OpenVMS", "MVS Open Edition", "Open Desktop" or "Open Server",
Unfortunately this is no longer a reliable guide, as some open systems and open source organizations have muddied the waters by using it in the previous (and, for a time, obsolete) sense.
Re:What does "Open" mean? (Score:1)
This company in Israel were taken to task for abusing the GPL - they used the GNU tool chain which they modified to produce a compiler/linker for their STBs: JFGI [google.co.uk].
SCO (Score:2)
Re:SCO (Score:2)
Not just a promotion of IBM hardware... (Score:2, Insightful)
I've been evaluating Linux at my present employment, and what was lacking most in the IBM solution was available software for the POWER series Linux OS.
At the moment, many large enterprise, infrastructer applications have been ported to linux for Intel (most even come with RedHat and SuSE packages), but of the 5 applications we require, only TSM backup was offered for Linux on power arch. This list includes BMC, EMC, and Bin
too little too late? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:too little too late? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:too little too late? (Score:2)
I'm not an IBM employee, I just use kick ass power 5 based systems at work.
Re:too little too late? (Score:1)
Re:too little too late? (Score:1)
PowerPC to the people (Score:5, Insightful)
Nobody will pay more than what a entry-level x86 costs for an entry-level PPC system.
IBM and FreeScale (the current most affected by Apple's switch) should think about getting simple Linux based PPC desktops at rock-bottom prices in the hands of developers, even if it means selling them at a loss.
When developers lose interest in a platform, it is doomed.
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:2)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:2)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
http://www.pegasosppc.com/products.php [pegasosppc.com]
Theyve been around for some time it seems.
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:2)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
Realy i think its going to come down to a simple thing. $
Designing hardware is expensive work.
Fortunatly there are effrots to make this change.
Some enterprising folks are designing Open Hardware along similar lines as the Sparc standard (though cheaper and more flexible)
So perhaps if we start seeing some "BSD Hardware Licence" type thing. Where you can get a CPU made from whoever sells them. and theres a mounting board that connects to the memory board, southbridge
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
Losing Apple's custom is just a fleabite and won't have any appreciable effect of the development of PPC applications, Linux or other. We're not talking Dell or Apple here, it's a whole
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
If IBM were just a chip manufacturer the loss of those sales might affect the whole future of the chip. But becasue they use it in their mid- and top-range machines it's not going to bother them at all. Selling one big iSeries or pSeries is worth a wealth of mini-Macs.
If that's no
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
Re:PowerPC to the people (Score:1)
I've got one here (Score:5, Interesting)
There are some caveats, though. One is that it does run hot. I wouldn't recommend keeping this type of machine running anywhere other than an air conditioned data center. You can feel the hot air blasting out the front of the chassis. The other thing is that because it's designed for virtualization, getting it booted up can be somewhat cumbersome. It actually requires a separate computer (an ordinary PC, as shipped) to run the software that configures partitions and manages the boot process.
Other than that, though, this is a great way to get a smaller version of what "big iron" can deliver, at a decent price.
IBM doesn't have a good promoting record (Score:1)
Re:IBM doesn't have a good promoting record (Score:1)
We evaluated linux on the p720 (Score:1, Informative)
We cancelled our order and shipped back the eval units. We have no problems with Dell (after adding intel nics because the broadcom like to die).
IBM prices (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd buy a PowerPC motherboard that had standard ATX power connections, IDE/SATA, maybe some PCI slots, maybe SMP. But I'm not going to spend >$3k thank you very much. I, and I'm sure others, would love to tinker with PowerPC chips if it wasn't cheaper to buy a Mac instead.
Re:IBM prices (Score:2)
Ah, but IBM has solved that problem, by forcing Apple to eliminate those pesky low-priced PowerPC systems...
Re:IBM prices (Score:2)
Here you go. [pegasosppc.com]
New Power 5s (Score:1)
What *I* don't know yet, is if we are going to go Linux or AIX with that platform. We're just kicking the ideas around the next couple of weeks.
Big Blue States (Score:2)
Strategy (Score:2)
You should be glad. This is a trojan horse. Open POWER is dead, it's all a clever trick to get the Chinese to waste time on an amazing yet dead-in-the-water technology.
Chalk one up for India.
Oh, I'm sorry, did you want something good to happen to the US?
Francesca Fiore... (Score:1)
A: The P-P-P-Power!
Re:fp! (Score:1)
Re:Well Duh. (Score:3, Funny)
*ducks*