Recommended reading
This area of the site will provide links to interesting articles and other materials that will expand your Power Architecture knowledge base. Please contact us if you have a resource you would like listed here.
Power ISA Documentation
Power
Instruction Set Architecture Version 2.05
The Power Architecture Advisory Council has advanced another step in the
Power ISA roadmap. Power ISA version 2.05 enhances the capabilities of the
architecture with the addition of decimal floating point facilities, power
management capabilities, new instructions supporting computation efficiency
and memory management, new facilities for measuring resource utilization and
partition migration, and other enhancements.
Power
Instruction Set Architecture Version 2.04
The Power Architecture Advisory Council has advanced another step in
the Power ISA roadmap. Power ISA version 2.04 enhances the server
capabilities of the architecture with the addition of several new
facilities, including support for virtualized partition memory and virtual
page class keys.
Power Architecture White Papers
Power Architecture Platform - The intersection of
technology and brand evolution
Pund-IT Research, July 2006
Download the Pund-IT Research's commentary on the July announcements
relating to Power ISA 2.03 and the new brand system.
Itanium vs. Power Architecture: More Bunk from the
Itanium Solutions Alliance
Clabby Analytics, June 2006
Download the Clabby Analytics research brief that takes issue with some of
the claims in the Itanium Solutions Alliances' whitepapers.
Power.org gains Freescale, advances ecosystem
Linley Group, February 2006
Download the Linley Group analysis of Freescale's addition to Power.org.
Cell
Broadband Engine Processor and its applications
Stanford EE Computer Systems Colloquium, February
22, 2006
This session, by H. Peter Hofstee of IBM, covers the main design choices in
the Cell Broadband Engine architecture, and its first implementation. Dr.
Hofstee also discusses application areas where Cell has already proven its
value, and how Cell-type architectures might evolve over time.
The Rise to
Power
Linux User & Developer, October 2005
Jason Walsh provides an in-depth look at the transition of the Power and
PowerPC family in the wake of Apple's announced switch to Intel. This
article features an exlusive interview with Terra Soft's co-founder and CEO
Kai Staats, Genesi's founders Bill Buck and Raquel Velasco, and IBM's VP of
Technology Marketing and Chairman of Power.org. This article showcases Terra
Soft's strategic role in the reformation of a global, computing
cornerstone.
Power to the
People
Linux User & Developer, October 2005
Jon Masters takes us under the hood and into the CPU and kernel as he
explores the current state of Power/PowerPC systems with a look to the year
2007 when Apple will no longer ship PowerPC-based systems, "Apple may be
dumping PowerPC, but it won't slow down its progress as an appealing
platform for a whole generation of Linux on POWER developers..."
PowerPC - a
potted history
Linux User & Developer, October 2005
"Apple may have lost interest in the CPU which they helped develop, but it's
far from dead -- and the history of the chip's development holds the key as
to why," Jason Walsh retells the story of the history of the world's most
widely-used RISC CPU.
Power.org Technical Vision paper
Read the technical vision of the Power.org consortium in this paper written
by Micheal Paczan, Chairman of the Power.org Technical Committee. Find
out how Power.org can help overcome technology challenges and create a
growing Power Architecture community that values open standards and
recognize the benefits of a collaborative approach. [Power.org]
Review of Genesi Open Desktop Workstation
Read a review of this workstation by "Linux User & Developer"
magazine. [Genesi]
Power Architecture introduction
If you are new to Power Architecture and have questions, these Q&As may
help. [IBM developerWorks]
The Sum Is Greater Than the Whole
Bernard Meyerson, chief technologist for IBM’s Systems & Technology
Group, sat down with Electronic News to discuss the Cell processor, the
importance of Moore’s Law and the future of electronics design. [Electronic
News]
The Sageza Group report on Power.org
The Bazaar Invades the Cathedral: Power.org Comes to Mare Nostrum in
Barcelona. Download the pdf. [The Sageza Group, Inc.]
EE
Times: Trends in systems architecture
The Trends in systems architecture site provides you with instant access to
the articles, white papers and resource URLs you need to stay ahead of the
latest trends in processor design and implementation. The site is a
collaboration among CMP Media and IBM. [EE Times]
BlueGene project
BlueGene Supercomputer, currently ranked number one in the world, is the
result of a project begun five years ago. BlueGene is optimized for
scalability, while consuming a fraction of the power and floor space
required by today's fastest systems. [IBM]
Microprocessor Report Cell Processor Technology
Award
With a promise of incredible performance and flexibility, and what is
basically a vector supercomputer on a chip, The 2004 Microprocessor Report
Analysts' Choice Award for Best Technology goes to the Cell Processor.
[Microprocessor Report]
Inforworld's Review of POWER5
Computing to the 5th Power. Big Blue's dual-core RISC processor doesn't get
the attention it deserves. [Infoworld]