Next IBM-Apple chip getting high-end feature

[Mac Reporter]

In 2005, IBM plans to bring a significant feature from higher-end servers to the next generation of its PowerPC 970 processor line used in Apple Computer machines and Big Blue's own blade servers.

The next-generation chip will have technology that lets it run multiple operating systems simultaneously, said Karl Freund, vice president of IBM eServer pSeries. Doing so allows a computer to handle more jobs at the same time and to be used more efficiently.

The technology, called partitioning, relies on a concept called virtualization that breaks the hard link between an operating system and the underlying hardware. Partitioning is available today only on servers using IBM's higher-end Power4 and Power5 processors and in competing server designs from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

A key ally in the Power effort is Apple, which uses the PowerPC 970FX in its desktop and server computers. IBM also uses the chip in its thin JS20 blade servers. Big Blue also is rounding up other partners to promote and develop the Power family.

Read more at CNET News.com.