Google, along with Rackspace, is developing a new type of server on the IBM Power architecture for data centers

As part of the Open Compute Project (OCP) project, Google is developing a new type of server for data centers. An open specification server is created based on the IBM Power architecture with an IBM Power9 processor. According to the Google team, Power is great for self-development of its own hardware platform.

Representatives of the American hosting provider Rackspace also take part in the project. The project itself is named Zaius - it became the name for the new type of server itself. The authors of the idea believe that Zaius will allow companies to easily implement new servers in their data centers. Some server parameters are already known: in particular, Zaius is designed for installation in a rack with a voltage of 48V instead of the usual 12V. The rack is also being developed by the company as part of the Open Compute Project.

Mayor Mahoni, a Google spokesman and director of the OpenPower Foundation at the same time, argues that the company needs a new architecture to create an updated data center infrastructure. This, in turn, will help the corporation cope with ever-increasing loads. Now only the search service works with 60 trillion addresses instead of 1 trillion, as it was only 8 years ago.
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IBM is already working on the Power 10 architecture, which is scheduled to be launched in 2020.

All data centers of Google now use Intel processors with the well-known x86 architecture. However, Google plans to use alternative solutions. For example, in April 2014, Google introduced its own development - a server with a Power8 processor. In February of this year, the company showed interest in the ARM-architecture.

Recently, IBM has shown a roadmap for the development of the Power9 architecture. So, the new POWER9 SO (Scale Out) chip is the first in the Power9 processor family. This chip includes 24 Power9 cores, which is two times more than the previous generation processors. The processor allows for more "heavy" calculations with less energy. Accordingly, cloud service providers with thousands of servers in data centers will be able to reduce their operating costs while increasing the performance of their entire infrastructure.


Ibm power9

Rackspace has a Google-like point of view. So, Rackspace senior engineer Aaron Sullivan says that Power processors are quite productive, which is undoubtedly beneficial for cloud service providers. In addition, many companies would like to create servers of their own design, which would be ideally suited to perform their tasks. To meet its partners, Rackspace independently developed the Barreleye server based on the Power processor. In the next few months, such servers will be installed in the company's data centers.

Now the desire to work with the IBM Power standard is expressed by many companies, including both well-known market players and beginners. And Google with Rackspace became one of the first who really seriously approached the task of constructing servers with a new architecture and an open standard. And this means the almost complete absence of licensing restrictions, with all the ensuing in the form of customization of equipment of any level and flexible configuration of its infrastructure.