PMC-Sierra joins OpenPOWER foundation

PMC-Sierra has joined the OpenPOWER Foundation, which is dedicated to developing advanced server, networking, storage and acceleration technology, along with open source software. The open source movement is radically altering the design of hyperscale and cloud data centers by providing more efficiency at lower cost.

2

The OpenPOWER group makes POWER hardware and software available to open development for the first time, as well as making POWER intellectual property licensable to others, greatly expanding the ecosystem of innovators on the platform. PMC will leverage their deep knowledge of SAS and NVMe controllers to help develop new I/O interfaces by sponsoring a new I/O workgroup, along with IBM, Emulex, QLogic and Mellanox.

"Participating in the I/O workgroup with IBM and integrating our products into the OpenPOWER platform ensures that our customers have access to the latest cloud and big data storage technology," said Kurt Chan, vice president of storage technology and strategy for PMC's Enterprise Storage Division. "As a market leader in SAS and NVMe controllers, working with the industry to define new I/O interfaces and being at the forefront of new developments enables PMC to deliver the most advanced products for open architectures."

"The development model of the OpenPOWER Foundation is based on collaboration and represents a new way of innovating around processor technology," said Brad McCredie, OpenPOWER president and IBM fellow and vice president. "OpenPOWER Foundation members like PMC will be able to add their own innovations on top of the POWER processor technology to better serve their customers' needs, as well as create new products to address new markets. PMC's deep I/O expertise will benefit our collective efforts and further strengthen OpenPOWER's growing ecosystem."