IBM zEC12 chip, 5.5 GHz, 6 core, CISC CPU

[magellan]

zEnterprise EC12

The zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12)is based on the zEC12 chip, a 5.5 GHz hexa-core out-of-order CISC-based zArchitecture processor. The zEC12 can have a maximum of 120 cores, 101 of which are customer configurable to run operating systems and applications.[5] The maximum number of cores available in a particular model of the zEC12 is denoted by the model name. For example, the H20 has up to 20 cores orderable for direct customer use, plus spare and a special I/O processor core type, the System Assist Processor. Each core can be characterized as a Central Processor (CP), Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) processor, z Application Assist Processor (zAAP), z10 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP), Internal Coupling Facility (ICF) processor, or additional System Assist Processor (SAP). The zEnterprise EC12 allows up to 3 TB (usable) of redundant array of independent memory (RAIM).

So are AMD and Intel dragging their feet or what?

 

[cullam3n]

Not really. IBM has always been in the mainframe game.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/08/29/ibm-regains-1-server-market-share-position/

 

[EarthDog]

I work on an mainframe every. Single. Day. Lol!

There is no reason what so ever for amd and Intel to get into that type of chip. It would cost WAY too much money for RnD of which amd cannot afford to squander a penny of their coin for such an endeavor. The market is also brutally small for mainframes as it is a dieing breed.

That article linked above is peculiar to me with IBM holding a lions share of the server market. IBM has renamed their mainframes to enterprise servers as they can now do so much more as the first post alludes to with zLinux being able to be hosted on the device. I feel like the mainframe is sliding down a mountain desperately clawing at the rock to keep its hold.

 

[magellan]

I work on an mainframe every. Single. Day. Lol!

There is no reason what so ever for amd and Intel to get into that type of chip. It would cost WAY too much money for RnD of which amd cannot afford to squander a penny of their coin for such an endeavor. The market is also brutally small for mainframes as it is a dieing breed.

That article linked above is peculiar to me with IBM holding a lions share of the server market. IBM has renamed their mainframes to enterprise servers as they can now do so much more as the first post alludes to with zLinux being able to be hosted on the device. I feel like the mainframe is sliding down a mountain desperately clawing at the rock to keep its hold.

Earthdog why does IBM develop PowerPC AND these powerful mainframe CPU's? Are the PowerPC CPU's aimed at scientific computing while the mainframe CPU's are for server type applications? What kind of applications do they run on mainframes these days? Oracle?

 

[EarthDog]

I do not know too much about the cpu differences. For the CPUs used in the mainframe it is really good at parallel processing. We have what are called batch schedules where, in the case of my shop, almost 1000 jobs are run per day. Things from billing, AR/AP, inventory, and many other types of jobs are all run on our mainframe. During the day not much goes on, but at night we run 10-15 jobs at a time which requires a ton of processing and I/O to different databases the reside on the mainframe (SQL, DB2, IDMS, etc). A 'common' x86 cpu couldn't handle that load.

 

[wagex]

Earth Dog, get back to work, they are hacking the protus mainframe!

 

[magellan]

I do not know too much about the cpu differences. For the CPUs used in the mainframe it is really good at parallel processing. We have what are called batch schedules where, in the case of my shop, almost 1000 jobs are run per day. Things from billing, AR/AP, inventory, and many other types of jobs are all run on our mainframe. During the day not much goes on, but at night we run 10-15 jobs at a time which requires a ton of processing and I/O to different databases the reside on the mainframe (SQL, DB2, IDMS, etc). A 'common' x86 cpu couldn't handle that load.

At the place I work we have a 400 node, dual core opteron based, Sun Grid Engine, Rocks HPC cluster that regularly processes multi-terabyte, genetic datasets for days on end and sometimes on all nodes in the cluster.

 

[magellan]

I do not know too much about the cpu differences. For the CPUs used in the mainframe it is really good at parallel processing. We have what are called batch schedules where, in the case of my shop, almost 1000 jobs are run per day. Things from billing, AR/AP, inventory, and many other types of jobs are all run on our mainframe. During the day not much goes on, but at night we run 10-15 jobs at a time which requires a ton of processing and I/O to different databases the reside on the mainframe (SQL, DB2, IDMS, etc). A 'common' x86 cpu couldn't handle that load.

ED, are you using these 5.5 Ghz IBM CPU's in your mainframes? It sounds like they would be more powerful than PowerPC (there aren't any PowerPC CPU's running at 5.5Ghz).