Next IBM-Apple chip

IBM says it will add new technology to run multiple operating systems simultaneously to the . CNET News.com reports that the next version of IBM's PowerPC 970 processor, due next year and currently in the final stages of its design cycle, uses 'partitioning' technology that "relies on a concept called virtualization that breaks the hard link between an operating system and the underlying hardware." The technology is currently only available in IBM's higher-end Power4 and Power5 processors as well as in competing server designs from Sun, HP and Intel, but IBM confirmed that Apple has plans to incorporate the chip into its forthcoming servers. "Servers using Power4 and Power5 chips require additional hardware called a management console to manage partitions, Freund said. With the next-generation PowerPC 970, IBM plans to run that hardware management console instead as software in a separate partition, he said."

by MacNN Staff