For some time now, industry analysts have been expecting that IBM would refresh the eight-way and twelve-way AS/400e systems (640 and 650 models) and servers (S30 and S40 models) with new Northstar 64-bit PowerPC processors (CI No 3,341). But the latest rumors indicate that IBM may go further and also update the Apache Invader line (model 170s) with the chip. These machines, which were announced in February with the Apache chip that debuted last August, offer significantly better price/performance than regular AS/400 systems (6XX models) or servers (SXX models). IBM has set early September as the launch date for the first Northstar AS/400 products, and intends to launch RS/6000 systems using the new processor at around the same time (see Barbed Wire for more details). But analysts say that IBM had not planned to update the rest of the AS/400e line until early next year when it had worked out the kinks in the Northstar CMOS process. But apparently IBM is ahead of schedule with both Northstar and its follow-on, Pulsar, and wants to get the engines into products before the competition from Compaq (DEC), Sun Microsystems Inc and Intel Corp makes it a moot point. Even with Merced delays, the stodgy AS/400 and pricey RS/6000 lines don’t have much breathing room. Four-way Pentium II Xeon servers are coming in with TPC-C throughput that matches the twelve-way Apache Raven server. With that ratio, the 32-bit Xeon chip running at 400 megahertz has about the same power as a 64-bit Northstar chip running at 250MHz. On the SPECweb96 test, the four-way Xeons running Sun’s Solaris operating system and web server have already beaten the expected performance of the RS/6000 Blackbird (the follow-on to the Raven server), which has three times as many processors and which should theoretically be able to do about three times the work. Clearly, having more bits in a chip doesn’t always guarantee better performance. Domino Go on AS/400s and RS/6000s seems to be a very slow (although secure and sophisticated) web server. This perhaps explains best why IBM is keen on getting the world’s best and most devoted web nerds – those behind the Apache Project – to help it get Apache up and running on AS/400s. The chip designers in Rochester keeping creating great chips, and the software developers just end up squandering all the MIPS. Timothy Prickett Morgan.
