IBM Corp’s 64-bit PowerPC 620 and Apache RS/6000 server technologies plus 64-bit AIX, dubbed Raven, have been sitting on the runway ready to fly for a couple of months now. Originally slated for a September introduction, Big Blue had been trying to pull Raven’s announcement forward to late July, but has apparently settled for the third week in August. For RS/6000 customers that want to dabble in 64-bit processing while maintaining their investment in 32-bit technology IBM will sell PowerPC 620 upgrades for its the eight-way J and R Model 50 servers. The Model 60s will supposedly support up to 4Gb RAM and offer a 40% performance increase over the existing generation. There’s also slated to be a migration path from the rackmount Model R50 to an end-to-end 64-bit solution that will be introduced which uses up to 12 of the single-chip Apache variants of AS/400’s PowerPC AS processor. Apache’s supposed to be hitting 500MHz in the labs. IBM’s going to get Raven below $100 per tpmC, otherwise the new AS/400 servers might look cheaper – and that just wouldn’t seem right now would it?
