Greetings List Lurkers, ITschak makes a very good point, ARM binary compatibility...
Very interesting, and cool. Paul Flint, Director Barre Open Systems Institute On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 8:55 AM Rick Troth <[email protected]> wrote: > > ... double ... to maybe 70? > > Hah! > > This article reminds me of new and amazing tech from years ago. > IBM introduced a specialty engine to help with particular workloads. > (Java specifically.) Knowing that the hardware had been micro-coded for > several decades AND seeing other specialty engines (like the Crypto > Express), I was excited about this new engine that could _interpret Java > byte code directly_. > > Uhhh... no. > Turned out ZAAPs and ZIIPs (not to mention IFLs) were/are just > ham-strung general purpose engines. > > So now we read that IBM will release "something" that will interpret ARM > instructions as well as Z instructions. Color me skeptical. (Something > about "fool me once", and such.) > Never the less, there it is in black-and-white. > > Consider some facts: > > * ARM has been making headway into the data center for several years > already > * IBM is struggling to sell Z instruction set and architecture, > especially for Linux workloads > * IBM is downplaying, abandoning, deprecating all Z environments aside > from z/OS > * Z instruction set is CISC, ARM is RISC > * they're talking about KVM with no mention of z/VM > > > Bullet #1, PHSiii may remember (and I certainly do) "the machine" from > when we were with HPE, a wholly ARM based multi-processor frame. > I have no idea where this project went after HPE spit us out (and we > became part of Micro Focus). I thought it was a slick idea, already > using ARM on my own LAN. > Maybe IBM manglement have seen the same ARM trend. > > Bullet #2, sadly, the public doesn't get it. ARM competes with Z on > power efficiency, but does not have channelized I/O. > The public has no clue where that matters. And if you throw enough > resources at a problem, actual details matter less and less. > > Bullet #3, consider geese and golden eggs, think "baby and bathwater", > which we on the outside (from IBM) grok intuitively. > Rewind to S/360, the first general purpose architecture but consistent > across the portfolio. But the only truly entrenched Z system is z/OS. > > Bullet #4, maybe oil-and-water, or maybe complementary ... I really > don't know ... but they're seriously different. > > Bullet #5, I use KVM *heavily* for my Intel/AMD farm. Works great. > Efficient? Dunno. Don't really care. (Because the host processor has > more power than I can use anyway.) > But fond as I am of KVM, it simply does not compare with z/VM. (The > latter being one of those things mentioned in bullet #3.) > If you're going to support context switching at all, you really want z/VM. > > So what exactly are they going to do? > Give us a daughter board with a stack of ARM cores to sit alongside > Crypto Express? > That would work. > For that matter, why not give us an AMD/Intel daughter board and run MS > Windows workloads? > > > -- R; <>< > > > > > > On 8/24/26 2:09 PM, Phil Smith III wrote: > > > > > https://techstrongsemi.com/article/ibm-and-arm-unveil-dual-architecture-chip-plan-for-future-z-and-linuxone-mainframes > > > > That might more than double the number of LinuxONE systems sold.to > maybe 70? > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > > send email [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or > visit > > http://www2.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 > > > > -- > -- R; <>< > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or > visit > http://www2.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www2.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
