OPF eyes more Power innovations, partners

The real key is "when those companies in Open Power start working to put together their own infrastructure," Gebara said. "It also allows people to put together differentiated systems that are separate from what Intel's doing."

McCredie expects partners to design versions of Power chips that support local security requirements for creating a trusted chain of source code and different levels of encryption. Chips need to sport a variety of hooks into security systems, which are different in other parts of the world.

"You'll need unique chips to target the China market, and our partners will design and fabricate those chips," McCredie said. Chips tailored for the China market may also support the country's tendency for "trimming down on the cost versus going heavier on performance."

Taiwan's Tyan developed a Power 8 reference server for $2,753. The relatively low cost for a Power system could help proliferate Power technology, Gebara said.

Both McCredie and Gebara expect more partners to join the OPF in the next 12-18 months, with some announcements around the first Open Power summit in March 2015.

Overall, the foundation aims to enable new silicon and software capabilities from accelerators integrated for particular applications to quantum Power processors. New applications will drive processor architecture, McCredie said, and "we have a ton of research around semiconductors and next-gen devices."

-Jessica Lipsky
??EE Times U.S.

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