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The IBM System p is a high-end line of
RISC In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set compu ...
( Power)/
UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
-based servers. It was the successor of the RS/6000 line, and predecessor of the IBM Power Systems server series.


History

The previous RS/6000 line was originally a line of workstations and servers. The first System p server line was named the ''e''Server pSeries in 2000 as part of the e-Server branding initiative. In 2004, with the advent of the POWER5 processor, the server family was rebranded the ''e''Server p5. In 2005, following IBM's move to streamline its server and storage brands worldwide, and incorporating the "System" brand with the Systems Agenda, the family was again renamed to System p5. The System p5 now encompassed the IBM OpenPower product line. In 2007, after the introduction of the POWER6 processor models, the last rename under the System p brand dropped the p (numbered) designation. In April 2008, IBM announced a rebranding of the System p and its unification with the mid-range System i platform. The resulting product line was called IBM Power Systems.


Hardware and software


Processors

Whereas the previous RS/6000 line used a mix of early POWER and
PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple– IBM ...
processors, when pSeries came along, this had evolved into RS64-III and POWER3 across the board—POWER3 for its excellent floating-point performance and RS64 for its scalability, throughput, and integer performance. IBM developed the POWER4 processor to replace both POWER3 and the RS64 line in 2001. After that, the differences between throughput and number crunching-optimized systems no longer existed. Since then, System p machines evolved to use the POWER5 but also the PowerPC 970 for the low-end and blade systems. The last System p systems used the POWER6 processor, such as the POWER6-based System p 570 and the JS22 blade. In addition, during the SuperComputing 2007 (SC07) conference in Reno, IBM introduced a new POWER6-based System p 575 with 32 POWER6 cores at 4.7 GHz and up to 256 GB of RAM with water cooling.


Features

All IBM System p5 and IBM ''e''Server p5 machines support DLPAR (Dynamic Logical Partitioning) with Virtual I/O and Micro-partitioning. System p generally uses the AIX operating system and, more recently,
64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit CPUs and ALUs are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A comp ...
versions of the
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...
operating system.


Models


BladeCenter

* IBM BladeCenter JS12 (POWER6) * IBM BladeCenter JS22 (POWER6) * IBM BladeCenter JS23 (POWER6) * IBM BladeCenter JS43 (POWER6)


Main line


eServer pSeries

* IBM eServer pSeries 610 (7028-6C1 & 6E1) * IBM eServer pSeries 615 (7029-6C3, 7029-6E3) (1~2-core POWER4+ CPU) * IBM eServer pSeries 620 (7025-F80, 6F0 & 6F1) (1~3 2-core RS64-IV CPUs) * IBM eServer pSeries 630 (7028-6C4, 7028-6E4) (1 1-core POWER4 CPU or 1~2 2-core POWER4 CPUs) * IBM eServer pSeries 640 (7026-B80) 1-4 POWER3-II CPUs * IBM eServer pSeries 650 (7038-6M2) 2-8 POWER4 CPUs * IBM eServer pSeries 655 (7039-651) 4-8 POWER4 CPUs * IBM eServer pSeries 660 (7026-H80, 6H0, 6H1, M80 & 6M1) * IBM eServer pSeries 670 (7040-671) 4-16 POWER4 CPUs * IBM eServer pSeries 680 (7017 range) * IBM eServer pSeries 690 (7040-681) 8-32 POWER4 CPUs The IBM p690 was, at the time of its release in late 2001, the flagship of IBM's high-end
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
servers during the POWER4 era of processors. It was built to run IBM AIX Unix, although it is possible to run a version of
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...
minus some POWER4-specific features. It could support up to 32 (1.5, 1.7 or 1.9 GHz) POWER4+ processors and 1 TB of RAM, which weighs well over 1000 kg. It was used in a supercomputer at
Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ here for short) is a national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates research infrastructures with a focus on supercomputers. C ...
in 2004, and was discontinued in late 2005.


eServer p5

Released in 2004. * IBM eServer p5 510 Express (9111-510) (1~2-core 1.5GHz POWER5 CPU) * IBM eServer p5 510 (9111-510) (1~2-core 1.65GHz POWER5 CPU) * IBM eServer p5 520 Express (9111-520) (1~2-core 1.5GHz POWER5 CPU) * IBM eServer p5 520 (9111-520) (2-core 1.65GHz POWER5 CPU) * IBM eServer p5 550 Express (9113-550) (1~2 1~2-core 1.5GHz POWER5 CPUs) * IBM eServer p5 550 (9113-550) (1~2 2-core 1.65GHz POWER5 CPUs) * IBM eServer p5 570 Express (9117-570) (1~8 2-core 1.5GHz POWER5 CPUs) * IBM eServer p5 570 (9117-570) (1~8 2-core 1.65GHz or 1.9GHz POWER5 CPUs) * IBM eServer p5 590 (9119-590) (1~4 8-core 1.65GHz POWER5 MCMs) * IBM eServer p5 595 (9119-595) (2, 4, 6 or 8 8-core 1.65GHz or 1.9GHz POWER5 MCMs)


System p5

* IBM System p5 185 (7037-A50) (1~2-core PowerPC 970 CPU) * IBM System p5 505 (9115-505) (1~2-core POWER5 or POWER5+ CPU) * IBM System p5 505Q (9115-505) (4-core POWER5+ CPU) * IBM System p5 510 (9110-51A) (1~2 1~2-core POWER5 or POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 510Q (9110-51A) (1~2 4-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 520 (9131-52A) (1~2-core POWER5+ CPU) * IBM System p5 520Q (9131-52A) (4-core POWER5+ CPU) * IBM System p5 550 (9133-55A) (1~2 2-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 550Q (9133-55A) (1~2 4-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 560Q (9116-561) (1, 2 or 4 4-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 570 (9117-570) (1~8 2-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 575 (9118-575) (8 1~2-core POWER5+ CPUs) * IBM System p5 590 (9119-590) (1~2 16-core POWER5 or POWER5+ processor books) * IBM System p5 595 (9119-595) (1~4 16-core POWER5 or POWER5+ processor books)


System p

* IBM System p 520 Express (1, 2 or 4-core POWER6 CPU) * IBM System p 550 Express (1~4 2-core POWER6 CPUs) * IBM System p 560 Express (POWER6) * IBM System p 570 (POWER6) * IBM System p 575 (POWER6) * IBM System p 595 (9119-FHA) (1~8 8-core POWER6 processor books) System p was rebranded to Power Systems in 2008.


OpenPower

OpenPower was the name of a range of servers in the
System p The IBM System p is a high-end line of RISC (Power)/UNIX-based servers. It was the successor of the RS/6000 line, and predecessor of the IBM Power Systems server series. History The previous RS/6000 line was originally a line of workstations and ...
line from IBM. They featured IBM's POWER5 CPUs and run only 64-bit versions of
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...
. IBM's own
UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
variant, AIX is not supported since the OpenPower servers are not licensed for this
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
. There were two models available, with a variety of configurations. Before 2005, OpenPower belonged to the eServer product line but were eventually rolled into the IBM's Power Systems product portfolio. * IBM eServer OpenPower 710 (9123-710) (1~2-core POWER5 CPU) * IBM eServer OpenPower 720 (9124-720) 1-4 POWER5 CPUs


IntelliStation POWER

* IBM IntelliStation POWER 265 * IBM IntelliStation POWER 275 * IBM IntelliStation POWER 185 (PowerPC 970) * IBM IntelliStation POWER 285


BladeCenter

* IBM BladeCenter JS20 (PowerPC 970) * IBM BladeCenter JS21 (PowerPC 970)


See also

* Web-based System Manager, an AIX management software * IBM Hardware Management Console, a management appliance * Dynamic Logical Partitioning * Linux on Power * IBM IntelliStation POWER * PureSystems * List of IBM products


References


External links


IBM Power Systems product pageIBM's System AgendaVirtualizing an Infrastructure with System p and Linux
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibm System P
System p The IBM System p is a high-end line of RISC (Power)/UNIX-based servers. It was the successor of the RS/6000 line, and predecessor of the IBM Power Systems server series. History The previous RS/6000 line was originally a line of workstations and ...