Low-end Power4-iSeries models on
the horizon

            The long-awaited low and medium-sized Power4 Regatta servers are slated for third quarter, 2003.

      “I’m hearing that between February and April 2003, IBM will announce the low-end models for the i890,” says an Insider source close to IBM.

      Although IBM won’t commit to when these smaller servers are slated for announcement, it confirms that they are slated for the recent future.

      “We certainly will bring in the lower-end Power4s over time. Since each processor has a two-year shelf life before a new version is introduced, you can expect them relatively soon,” says Frank Soltis, iSeries chief scientist, IBM, Rochester.

      Because of this two-year processor cycle, the Power5 processor is expected to be announced before the end of 2004. With this technology, all of the iSeries and pSeries will be running on identical hardware.

      “Right now, the iSeries Model 890 and the pSeries Model 690 are absolutely identical. In the middle-range there are still some differences, but the goal is to bring them together by then,” says Soltis.

      Power6 processor technology can be expected in 2006. This will mark the phase where iSeries, pSeries and the zSeries all share common hardware, sources tell the Insider.

      IBM says that hardware is, and will continue to be, shared between the i, p and zSeries. However, because of the zSeries architecture, processor technology will never coincide.

      “The mainframe will share more hardware down the road, three or four years from now. But they could never use the PowerPC architecture because it wouldn’t allow them to run their old software,” says Soltis.

Common hardware raises concerns

      While some shops remain concerned about the concept of one box, IBM insists that individual eServers will remain separate even though there will be common hardware.

      “Don’t confuse one box with one server model. There will never be one model, not even within each eServer brand. Besides the different operating systems, we offer base, standard and specialized models,” says Soltis.

New processors double power

      The Power5 processors are expected to double the performance of the Power4, and the Power6 is expected to do the same for the Power5.

      “The industry usually looks for the next generation to be twice as fast. The Power4 has .18 microns, the Power5 will have .13, and the Power6 will have .10,” says Soltis.