2008/11/11 Edward Jaffe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Tony Harminc wrote: >> >> ... The Reg has also bought into IBM's line about "speciality engines" >> being some sort of performance enhancers for Java, Linux, and so on, >> rather than just a scheme for maintaining market differentiation >> between Classic and New workloads. > > But, specialty engines *do* enhance performance of these workloads! > > Many users (us included) have sub-capacity CPs. Our current hardware is a > 2096-L03. Each CP generates about 66 MIPS. The IFLs, zAAPs and zIIPs run at > 470 MIPS -- or about seven times faster. We plan to get a z10 BC before the > end of the year. On that machine, the specialty engines run at an > astonishing 713 MIPS!
OK, OK - you (and IBM) win! But you and most others here understand that the "specialty engines" are not different in any way from normal engines; indeed it's the "normal" engines that are artificially slowed down based on what you pay. There's nothing wrong with this, of course, except that people generally don't like price differentiation based on things like how they use a product, or some kind of perceived willingness to pay. It's no different from how airlines sell the same seat to business vs vacation travellers so that you can find you have paid 10 times as much as your seatmate, or why the "business" editions of Windows Vista cost more than the corresponding "home" editions, though there's almost certainly more code needed to implement the fancy media features in "home" than the backup and such in "business". The Reg, and others who should be able to dig a little deeper, have accepted the implication that an IFL is somehow optimized or specialized for running Linux, a zAAP for running Java, and so on, when they're really all identical. Of course there's no reason IBM couldn't make true specialty engines, and it won't surprise anyone if they do at some point. And if that happens, doubtless IBM marketing will treat them as just an addition to the current line of innovative specials. Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
