Comments on: Which Processors Will Last Through 2020? http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/2009/04/01/which-processors-will-last-through-2020/ A Member of the Gartner Blog Network Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:41:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Martin Reynolds http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/2009/04/01/which-processors-will-last-through-2020/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Martin Reynolds Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:22:48 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/?p=3#comment-13 Thanks, Stephen. The S/360 line has proven to be remarkably resilient. It may not be front and center, but it remains core to much of modern business. I divided PowerPC and Power, despite their common heritage, because PowerPC had such a prominent space in volume computing. PowerPC's position in game consoles is dominant, but it is no longer a general-purpose computing processor. The Power processor tops and tails the PowerPC era, so maybe PPC is a red herring. I'm guessing that SPARC isn't going to get a whole lot of love from Oracle. Thanks, Stephen. The S/360 line has proven to be remarkably resilient. It may not be front and center, but it remains core to much of modern business. I divided PowerPC and Power, despite their common heritage, because PowerPC had such a prominent space in volume computing. PowerPC’s position in game consoles is dominant, but it is no longer a general-purpose computing processor. The Power processor tops and tails the PowerPC era, so maybe PPC is a red herring.

I’m guessing that SPARC isn’t going to get a whole lot of love from Oracle.

]]> By: Stephen Shankland http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/2009/04/01/which-processors-will-last-through-2020/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Stephen Shankland Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:43:59 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/?p=3#comment-11 I'm not sure I'd call S/360 and its derivatives "mainstream" when PowerPC is merely used in gaming consoles. Also, Power is closely related to PowerPC, should you really divide those two into separate architectures? I’m not sure I’d call S/360 and its derivatives “mainstream” when PowerPC is merely used in gaming consoles. Also, Power is closely related to PowerPC, should you really divide those two into separate architectures?

]]> By: Nick Jones http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/2009/04/01/which-processors-will-last-through-2020/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Nick Jones Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:09:15 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/?p=3#comment-3 I'd suggest that the question doesn't really matter any more. The processor architecture is increasingly irrelevant. The applications that really matter will be written in Java, Python, Ruby and a pile of similar languages that run on almost anything from a mobile phone to a supercomputer. The point at which we need to know about hardware architecture has moved up and away away from the chip architecture. We do still care about issues like how clusters are connected and what APIs we use to program for massively clustered systems. But why should we care about the processors running on the nodes of the cluster? And if we still care in a decade, it will probably be for reasons which are nothing to do with chip architectures or marketing but will be driven by things most of us would consider irrelevant today, like MIPS per kilowatt hour. I’d suggest that the question doesn’t really matter any more. The processor architecture is increasingly irrelevant. The applications that really matter will be written in Java, Python, Ruby and a pile of similar languages that run on almost anything from a mobile phone to a supercomputer. The point at which we need to know about hardware architecture has moved up and away away from the chip architecture. We do still care about issues like how clusters are connected and what APIs we use to program for massively clustered systems. But why should we care about the processors running on the nodes of the cluster? And if we still care in a decade, it will probably be for reasons which are nothing to do with chip architectures or marketing but will be driven by things most of us would consider irrelevant today, like MIPS per kilowatt hour.

]]> By: Gerry Van Zandt http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/2009/04/01/which-processors-will-last-through-2020/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Gerry Van Zandt Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:32:30 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/martin_reynolds/?p=3#comment-2 Martin, PA-RISC is one, and I think it's pretty significant as it innovated within the RISC space and had a healthy life-cycle. Perhaps it even has a bit of DNA in the Itanium architecture =) I don't know if you'd include the ARM instruction set as another, as it is more low-power/mobile-oriented, but it's certainly for computing and it's strong in its core markets. Best, Gerry Martin,

PA-RISC is one, and I think it’s pretty significant as it innovated within the RISC space and had a healthy life-cycle. Perhaps it even has a bit of DNA in the Itanium architecture =)

I don’t know if you’d include the ARM instruction set as another, as it is more low-power/mobile-oriented, but it’s certainly for computing and it’s strong in its core markets.

Best,
Gerry

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