IBM has positioned its POWER processor to be a primary processor for Linux users, in particular those with compute intensive workloads, such as big data, analytics and cloud. The OpenPOWER Foundations announcement of building hardware alternatives means POWER is not a pure IBM play moving forward. But IBM has changed things substantially with the launch of its POWER8 processor.
The changes should help move POWER8 into the wider computing market, according to Creative Intellect Consulting (CIC) Ltd. As well, the decision to open up a lot of the company’s intellectual property through the OpenPOWER Foundation is already generating traction.