IBM Mainframe Processor to Run Both IBM Z and Arm Software Natively
IBM has unveiled a next-generation mainframe processor that can execute both IBM Z and Arm software natively, without emulation or porting. The chip, built on a 2-nanometer process and clocked above 5.7 GHz, features 11 cores each capable of switching between the two instruction set architectures in nanoseconds.
The dual-architecture capability is made possible by IBM's collaboration with Arm, established in April, and runs entirely through KVM - the open-source Linux hypervisor - and Red Hat OpenShift. This means that z/VM, the 50-year-old hypervisor used for virtualization on IBM Z, will not be supported.
The new processor's architecture is different from heterogeneous multi-core designs, where separate cores are optimized for different purposes. Instead, every core on the die is a full-featured Z core that also happens to be a full-featured Arm core.
IBM's dual-ISA core eliminates the incompatibility between Z code and Arm binaries by implementing both ISAs in hardware at the same time. The company claims that off-the-shelf Arm Linux distributions and binaries will run without modification on the new system, thanks to its compliance with the Arm SystemReady standard.