Edit: Some links no longer work
Originally posted June 11, 2019 on AIXchange
I attended last month’s IBM Systems Technical University (TechU) conference in Atlanta, and as always, it was an enjoyable and enlightening time. In one of his sessions, Nigel Griffiths had a great slide that challenged attendees’ “street cred”:
Which is right?
Power
Power9
Power 9
Power-9
POWER9
POWER 9
POWER-9
Did you know the answer, or did you need to check the Twitter comments?
In that same session, Nigel remarked on how the word power has become overloaded. That got me thinking: If I ask if you have enough power, what am I talking about? The POWER processor architecture in general? A POWER-based server? Can you really have enough of either in your environment?
What about electrical power to your data center? Have you run out of power because you have so much power-hungry gear? What about electrical power to your rack, do you have enough? Is it the right kind of power?
Of course we have powerful power supplies on our POWER servers. Using the energy management modes, we can adjust the power and performance modes. Maybe you run your Power Systems server in power saver mode.
You can probably come up with more—and more clever—examples, but Nigel’s point is that, in our world, power has many meanings. I agree—and as someone who gets asked about power all the time, please understand if I request some clarification on occasion.
I encourage you to check out a TechU event in your area. The fall North American conference is this October in Las Vegas, but events are held worldwide.