IBM Doubles Down on Cell Blade

IBM Doubles Down on Cell Blade

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today introduced a new version of the breakthrough computing system based on the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) — the IBM BladeCenter® QS21 — that delivers twice the memory, density and I/O throughput as well as enhances power efficiency and the ability to work with existing IT infrastructure for both current and new customers. Also announced today is the IBM Software Development Kit (SDK) for Multicore Acceleration Version 3.0 — the cornerstone of the Cell/B.E. software ecosystem and developer enablement program.

The IBM BladeCenter® QS21 is the width of one blade computing system, allowing a customer to fit a maximum of 14 IBM BladeCenter® QS21’s per BladeCenter chassis as opposed to only seven with the previous version — effectively doubling the compute density. As well the QS21 offers an additional two gigabytes of I/O buffer memory, a feature that was not available on the previous version of the product. The I/O throughput of the IBM BladeCenter® QS21 — a measurement of the ability for data to travel in and out of the system — supports 16 lanes of single data rate Infiniband.

These new products — available in October — will bring the multicore acceleration technology made possible by the Cell/B.E. processor to clients and developers in a wide range of industries, including those that create and run highly visual, graphic and immersive, real-time applications such as 3D rendering, compression, and encryption. Multicore acceleration is the ability to harness the power of multiple computing cores to manage these specific types of applications with a high degree of power and cost efficiency.

“With the QS21 customers benefit from an evolution of Cell/B.E.-based blade server technology that incorporates not only twice the memory and density, but can now function either as a standalone blade server, or as a seamless addition to existing POWER or x86-based system,” said Jim Comfort, vice president for Optimized Systems, IBM Global Engineering Solutions. “Coupled with the new Cell/B.E. Software Development Kit, which streamlines application development, we’ve introduced a package that will allow more businesses to benefit from the proven power of the Cell/B.E. processor.”

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