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Accelerate and secure your IBM Power landscape with the new IBM Power10 processor
This week sees the launch of systems taking advantage of IBM’s Power10. This initial launch is aimed at high end systems in large enterprises, meaning that the Upgrade to IBM Power10 will not immediately be available to the majority of organisations.
However, the launch does give us the opportunity to look at some of the benefits that an upgrade to Power10 will bring to companies. Power10 was designed over five years and includes a number of firsts in the processor space.
Update: The Power10 scale out and midrange servers are available from the 12th July 2022
In the meantime, here are some of the benefits we can look forward to seeing.
Increase in performance and reduction of power consumption
- Some IBM i customers with single thread applications did not see an increase in performance when POWER8 upgraded to POWER9, announced in 2016. The same cannot be said though for Power10. Organisations can expect around a 20 percent increase. A huge change across all workloads.
- IBM claims that it can deliver up to three times greater efficiency than POWER9 whilst at the same time delivering higher workload capacity and container density.
- Power10’s reduced power consumption will also drive data centre efficiency and reduce costs.
Consolidation of workloads
- Another benefit will be the consolidation of workloads. For a vast majority of organisations, the performance potential of Power10 will be far more than is needed. This allows companies to bring new workloads onstream do more work in one place.
- One of these extras might well be AI. IBM expects the Power10 processor to achieve 10 to 20 times better performance for enterprise AI inference tasks compared with the POWER9.
Improvements in security
- The upgrade features dynamic execution register control which allows users to design apps that are more resistant to attacks with virtually no performance loss.
- Power10 is also designed to deliver hardware-enforced container protection and isolation, optimised with IBM firmware. It can also encrypt data 40 percent faster than POWER9.
POWER9 upgrade in 2021
Some companies may be coming to the end of use of their earlier generation Power Systems and were holding out for Power10 in 2021. However, with the release for the vast majority not coming out until the mid-part of 2022, organisations may be concerned that they will be unable to manage until then.
However, in more good news for companies, IBM has committed to work with clients to upgrade to POWER9 in 2021 and simply move over to Power10 when it becomes available in 2022 with a fixed monthly payment that is agreed in advance.
This means that companies can upgrade to POWER9 now and have a much simpler task of upgrading to Power10 in mid-2022.
Using experts to help with your upgrade to IBM Power10
Although IBM has done a great deal to simplify the implementation of its Power solutions, many companies are also looking to experts to help with the upgrade, provide advice and ensure a smooth transition period.
For many businesses, planning and executing a Power server upgrade is an activity only carried out once every 3-5 years and can be a daunting prospect. By comparison, our technical experts are continuously engaged with clients on such projects, helping to guide them from inception to completion.
By bringing in third party consultancies, it frees up internal IT teams to work on other, business critical work, whilst ensuring that all implementation of the upgrade goes without a hitch.
To find out more about the benefits for your organisation, and to plan your next move, contact Northdoor today for a free assessment of your Power landscape.
Email Northdoor today, call us on 020 7448 8500 or complete the form here to arrange your free Assessment.
