IBM Power Systems

Power Systems is IBM's Power Architecture-based server line.

Before the Power Systems line was announced on April 2, 2008, IBM had two distinct Power-based lines: the System i running IBM i (formerly i5/OS and OS/400) - and the System p series running AIX or Linux.

History

IBM had two distinct Power Architecture based hardware lines since the early 1990s. Servers running processors based on the PowerPC-AS in the AS/400 (later iSeries, then System i) family running OS/400 (later i5/OS) and the POWER and PowerPC based servers and workstations in RS/6000 (later pSeries, then System p) running AIX and Linux.

They merged to use essentially the same hardware platform in 2001/2002 with the introduction of the POWER4 processor. After that, there was little difference between both the "p" and the "i" hardware; the only differences were in the software and services offerings. With the introduction of the POWER5 processor in 2004, even the product numbering was synchronized. The System i5 570 was virtually identical to the System p5 570.

In April 2008, IBM officially merged the two lines of servers and workstations under the same name, Power Systems, with identical hardware and a choice of operating systems, software, and service contracts. In February 2010, IBM announced new models with the new POWER7 microprocessor.

Systems

POWER8-based IBM Power Systems E870 can be configured with up to 80 processor cores and 8 TB of memory.

IBM Power Systems models:

• 2008/2009
  • BladeCenter JS12 Express
  • BladeCenter JS22 Express
  • BladeCenter JS23 Express
  • BladeCenter JS43 Express
  • Power 520 Express
  • Power 550 Express
  • Power 560 Express
  • Power 570
  • Power 575
  • Power 595

• 2010
  • BladeCenter PS700 Express
  • BladeCenter PS701 Express
  • BladeCenter PS702 Express
  • Power 710 Express
  • Power 720 Express
  • Power 730 Express
  • Power 740 Express
  • Power 750 Express
  • Power 755 - for High-performance computing
  • Power 770
  • Power 780
  • Power 795

• 2011
  • Power 775 - also known as PERCS

• 2012
  • Flex System p260
  • Flex System p460
  • Flex System p24L (Linux Only)

• 2014
  • Power Systems S812L
  • Power Systems S822 and S822L
  • Power Systems S814
  • Power Systems S824 and S824L
  • Power Systems E870
  • Power Systems E880

• 2015
  • Power Systems E850
  • Power Systems S812LC
  • PowerSystems S822LC

See also

• IBM IT Infrastructure web page
• IBM Systems Power Systems Magazine
• IBM System i
• IBM System p
• IBM BladeCenter
• PureSystems
• IBM i
• AIX
• Linux on Power
• Power Architecture

References

• Power Systems (Power Systems for UNIX, and Linux Clients) – IBM.com
• IBM Power Systems Redbooks
• It's Official: Now We're Power Systems and i for Business – ITjungle.com
• IBM: i + p = Power – Cnet.com
• Hardware, OS Get New Names--And That's a Good Thing – IBM Systems Magazine.com