RE: Planning: What will be the last release to support Power 8 machines?

Drilling Down Into The Power10 Chip Architecture
https://www.itjungle.com/2020/08/24/drilling-down-into-the-power10-chip-architecture/

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Rob Berendt
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2020 8:22 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Planning: What will be the last release to support Power 8 machines?

<snip>
...
POWER10 = Current outlook is 2021 - this has been informally announced at conferences.
...
Also, note it takes roughly a year for the top to the bottom of the range of servers to arrive. With POWER9 the AC922 (GPU engine for HPC and AI) arrived at the end of 2017 and the rest in 2018.
...
</snip>
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/power-systems-safe-choice-future

So what this is saying is that Power 10 may come out in 2021 but the low end versions not until a year later in 2022.

So, in summary, we may need a newer system to test out rNext, which may GA early 2022. However if we want to replace that low end Power 8 with a low end Power 10 the lower end Power 10's may not be available until 2022.

I'm not sure what the pricing history, incentives, etc are to encourage one to upgrade that Power 8 to a Power 9 and when would be the best time to do that.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600 Mail to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Suite 104
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
Ship to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Dock 9C
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
http://www.dekko.com


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Rob Berendt
Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 3:40 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Planning: What will be the last release to support Power 8 machines?

I have no inside information.

Time to start preparing the wish list for end of year.

I am looking at: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/687283
There I see "IBM i 7.3 is the last release to support IBM POWER7 and IBM POWER7+ processor-based systems."
Is there going to be a statement like "IBM i 7.4 is the last release to support IBM POWER8 and IBM POWER8+ processor-based systems."? Since we use our Power 8 to test new releases, and we're already an all 7.4 shop, this has me concerned.

I do see this:
<snip>
October 9, 2018
"IBM's current plan, which is subject to change, is to continue to offer warranty support and service for Power8 machines for at least the next five years, under IBM's standard terms for warranty or service."
https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/2/897/ENUS918-162/index.html&lang=en&request_locale=en
</snip>

Based on the current "every 3 years" for new releases I'm thinking April 2022 before rNext of i.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/668157
Rule 1: 7.4 announced 4/2019. 4/2019 + 3 years = 4/2022.
Rule 2: EOS 7.1 was 1 year before announce of 7.4. EOS of 7.2 is 4/30/2021 therefore announce of rNext would be 4/2022.
That and the IBM Support Roadmap pretty much says 2022 for rNext. https://www.ibm.com/it-infrastructure/us-en/resources/power/i-strategy-roadmap/

Is there a related "Power Systems Roadmap" available?

Trying to find out two things:
What will be the last release to support Power 8?
When will be the EOS of Power 8?
Although the former will probably be earlier than the latter. Especially since we rush to the latest release.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Suite 104
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
Ship to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Dock 9C
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
http://www.dekko.com