IBM’s secret project, the world’s fastest processor

Let it be known that the world’s fastest processor on May 21, 2007, is the dual-core POWER6 processor, developed by IBM, which runs at an amazing 4.7 GHz. In addition, IBM announced a new ultra-powerful computer server, specifically designed for the POWER6, which takes advantages of the chip’s energy conservation and virtualization technology.

The POWER6, put in perspective, has enough processor bandwidth (300 GB per second) to download the entire iTunes catalog in roughly a minute, and is twice the speed of its predecessor, the POWER5. But don’t confuse its speed with efficiency, this record setting processor uses nearly the same amount of power as the POWER5 to run and cool it. The POWER6 processor is built using IBM’s state-of-the-art 65 nanometer process technology

“Like the victory of IBM’s Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer 10 years ago this month, the debut of POWER6 processor-based systems proves that relentless innovation brings ‘impossible’ goals within reach,” said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president, IBM Systems and Technology Group. “The POWER6 processor forges blazing performance and energy conservation technologies into a single piece of silicon, driving unprecedented business value for our customers.”

IBM’s new server currently holds all four major benchmarks for business and technical performance, and is the first of its kind to achieve every speed record. Based on the key TPC-C benchmark, IBM’s 2- to 16-core server offers three times the performance per core of  Hewlett Packard’s 1 million dollar Superdome machine, a server which was supposed to keep IBM at bay, until now. IBM just loves picking on HP.

IBM will use the new server to target customers with less-efficient HP, Sun and Dell servers, as IBM has calculated that 30 SunFire v890s can be consolidated into a single rack of the new IBM machine, saving more than $100,000 per year on energy costs.

This is achieved through a chip design which allows the POWER6 to operate at low voltages and have a configurable bandwidth, allowing users to choose between maximum performance on the chip, or reduced performance with maximum energy savings. And when there’s no useful work to be done on the processor, it dynamically turns itself off to use virtually no power.

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