IBM POWER9

IBM POWER9
Name	POWER9
Developer	IBM
Release	2017
Architecture	Power ISA v.3.0
Cores	8–24 (varies by model)
Lithography	14 nm
Sockets	SMP, NVLink
Predecessor	POWER8
Successor	POWER10

IBM POWER9

Introduction

POWER9 is a family of high-performance microprocessors developed by IBM for server, supercomputing, and enterprise workloads, succeeding POWER8 and preceding POWER10. Introduced during announcements associated with OpenPOWER Foundation, POWER9 targeted cloud providers such as Google, Amazon Web Services, and industry consortia like NVIDIA partnerships for accelerated computing. The design emphasizes scalability compatible with standards from PCI Express and interconnects such as NVLink and CAPI to support heterogeneous systems used in projects like Summit (supercomputer) and Sierra (supercomputer).

Architecture and Microarchitecture

POWER9 implements the Power ISA version 3.0, integrating features for coherent memory and I/O to support large-scale systems used by organizations such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and research centers collaborating with Cray Inc.. The microarchitecture supports chip designs produced on foundries similar to GlobalFoundries and incorporates multi-core layouts resembling approaches from Sun Microsystems engineers and concepts found in IBM Research publications. POWER9 includes on-chip controllers compatible with DDR4 SDRAM, interfaces for PCI Express 4.0 adopters, and coherent attach capabilities used by accelerators from NVIDIA, Xilinx, and vendors that follow specifications from the OpenPOWER Foundation consortium.

Models and Product Variants

Variants were produced in forms comparable to enterprise and HPC lines deployed by companies like Rackspace, Dell Technologies, and academic consortia initiated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Models range from server-oriented sockets used by vendors such as HPE and Lenovo to scale-out designs used by cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and hyperscalers influenced by partnerships with Google Cloud Platform. SKUs include versions emphasizing NVLink connectivity favored by NVIDIA for GPU pairing, and versions optimized for low-latency interconnects similar to systems from Cray Inc. and offerings by Fujitsu for large-scale installations.

Performance and Benchmarks

POWER9 powered benchmark submissions and studies by institutions such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and research groups at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, often compared against architectures from Intel and AMD. Subsystems using POWER9 were evaluated on suites like SPEC CPU and HPC benchmarks run on systems including Summit (supercomputer) that combined POWER9 hosts with NVIDIA Tesla accelerators. Publications in venues such as proceedings associated with SC (conference) documented throughput and latency characteristics measured by teams from National Renewable Energy Laboratory and national labs collaborating under programs with DOE.

Use Cases and Deployment

POWER9 saw deployment in domains served by organizations like National Aeronautics and Space Administration for simulation workloads, in financial services firms similar to JPMorgan Chase for transaction processing, and in research clusters funded by agencies such as NSF. HPC centers including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory deployed POWER9 in systems designed for workloads from projects led by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and consortia funded by Department of Energy initiatives. Commercial providers such as IBM Cloud and integrators like HPE offered POWER9 servers for enterprise virtualization and containerized platforms developed with partners like Red Hat.

Development and Software Ecosystem

Software support involved toolchains from projects like GCC, ecosystem components from OpenJDK, and libraries provided by organizations such as Linux Foundation initiatives and the OpenPOWER Foundation. Operating systems including Linux distributions maintained by vendors like Red Hat, SUSE, and projects from Canonical (company) provided support stacks, while compilers and performance tools from IBM Research and academic partners at institutions like University of California, Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology enabled optimization. Middleware and runtimes from ecosystems such as OpenStack and container projects influenced deployments by cloud providers including Amazon Web Services.

History and Evolution

Design and roadmap work for POWER9 followed lineage established by earlier projects at IBM Research and corporate initiatives tied to collaborations with the OpenPOWER Foundation, founded with members including Google, NVIDIA, and Tyan. Announced in the mid-2010s with production rollouts in 2017, POWER9 formed part of broader strategies involving interconnect standards and accelerator co-design influenced by partnerships with NVIDIA for NVLink and with FPGA vendors like Xilinx. Subsequent evolution led into the development of its successor, POWER10, within IBM roadmaps and community discussions involving contributors from OpenPOWER Foundation and systems vendors such as Lenovo.

Category:IBM microprocessors