The new IBM Power E1080 server, the first in a new series of servers based on the new IBM Power10 CPU, is built particularly for hybrid cloud settings, says IBM. The IBM Power10-equipped E1080 server is designed to enable clients manage a “frictionless and secure” hybrid cloud experience throughout their entire IT infrastructure.
The IBM Power E1080 server is based on IBM’s Power10 CPU. IBM Power10 is IBM’s first commercially available 7nm CPU, designed by IBM and built by Samsung utilizing 7nm EUV process technology.
When compared to the previous generation IBM Power E980 server, according to IBM itself, the IBM Power E1080 server can provide up to 30% higher performance per core and over 50% more overall capacity at the socket and system level, thanks to IBM Power10. When compared to the IBM Power E980x, this would equate to a 33% reduced energy consumption for the same workload on the IBM Power E1080, providing users the opportunity to combine workloads and save on hardware and software expenses.
IBM Power10 also includes additional security features for integrated workloads. Transparent memory encryption, which is meant to simplify and support end-to-end security without sacrificing speed, can be scaled with the Power10 CPU. When compared to IBM Power9, according to IBM itself, IBM Power10 has 4x the number of encryption engines per core, resulting in a 2.5x faster per core performance for AES encryption than the previous generation of IBM Power servers.
“When we were designing the E1080, we had to be cognizant of how the pandemic was changing not only consumer behavior, but also our customer’s behavior and needs from their IT infrastructure,” said Dylan Boday, VP of Product Management for AI and Hybrid Cloud. “The E1080 is IBM’s first server system designed from the silicon up for hybrid cloud environments, a system tailor-built to serve as the foundation for our vision of a dynamic and secure, frictionless hybrid cloud experience.”
New Security Tools, Enhancements for Hybrid Cloud
To sum up, the new IBM E1080 server was designed to introduce several key features including:
- Enhancements for hybrid cloud – like planned by the minute metering of Red Hat software including Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, greater OpenShift containerized throughput per core, and architectural consistency and cloud-like flexibility across the entire hybrid cloud environment to drive agility and improve costs without application refactoring.
- New hardware-driven performance improvements – that can provide greater performance and scalability than its predecessor, the IBM Power E980, while also lowering energy consumption and carbon impact, allowing clients to accomplish more with less. In comparison to the E980, the E1080 server has four matrix math accelerators per core, allowing for quicker inference performance.
- New security tools designed for hybrid cloud environments – Security software for every level of the system stack, including transparent memory encryption with no additional management setup, 4x the encryption engines per core, allowing for faster AES encryption than the IBM Power E980ix, and 4x the encryption engines per core, allowing for faster AES encryption than the IBM Power E980ix.
- An ecosystem of ISVs, Business Partners, and support – to demonstrate the IBM Power E1080 server’s capabilities and how clients can construct their hybrid cloud environment, including “record-breaking” performance for SAP workloads in an 8-socket system. In addition, IBM is introducing a new tiered Power Expert Care service to assist clients in protecting their systems against the newest cybersecurity threats while also delivering hardware and software coherence and increased system uptime.
“Red Hat has long been committed to delivering choice to our customers, a critical component in how these organizations approach open hybrid cloud deployments. Our collaboration with IBM on Power10 will serve as a continuation of this commitment to support a broad range of architectures,” said Stefanie Chiras, senior vice president, Platforms Business Group, Red Hat. “As an architectural foundation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift deployments on-premises metering, IBM Power will offer the scale and flexibility to help customers realize the benefits of open hybrid cloud.”
