Speaker
Description
x86 processors have been the long-time leaders of the server market and x86_64 the uncontested target architecture for the development of High Energy Physics applications. Up until few years ago, interests in alternative architectures targeting server environments that could compete in terms of performance, power efficiency and total cost of ownership with x86 could not find any concrete response. However, the past few years have seen the introduction of new processor architectures and initiatives aimed at challenging the leading position of x86. With the introduction in 2011 of the ARMv8 Instruction Set Architecture supporting 64-bit, ARM set the first milestone for the expansion into the server landscape. The OpenPOWER Foundation founded in 2013 set as its main goal the development of the POWER ecosystem in the server market, initially embracing under this initiative the POWER8 processor family. In 2015 we presented performance and power consumption benchmarks of uni-socket platforms that proved the existence of a significant gap between x86 and other competitors (A look beyond x86: OpenPOWER8 & AArch64, HEPiX Spring 2015) . The ecosystem has grown both in terms of availability of hardware platforms and software support. I will present new performance and power consumption results covering recent dual-socket ARMv8 and POWER8 platforms.
