Workload acceleration with the IBM POWER vector-scalar architecture

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the history and development of the IBM POWER ® vector-scalar architecture, as well as how the design goals of hardware efficiency and software interoperability are achieved by integrating existing floating-point and vector functions into a new unified architecture and function unit. The vector-scalar instructions were defined with an emphasis on out-of-the-box performance and consumability, while accelerating a broad set of enterprise server workloads. Vector-scalar instructions were first introduced in the IBM POWER7 ® architecture to accelerate high-performance computing applications. With the introduction of the POWER8 ® processor, the vector-scalar architecture expanded to accelerate a diverse set of enterprise workloads including unstructured text and string processing, business analytics, in-memory databases, big data, and stream coding. We conclude this paper with a description of workload performance and application acceleration to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new vector-scalar architecture.