OpenPOWER Foundation
What the OpenPOWER Foundation is, what IBM actually opened when it opened the Power ISA, and how that decision shapes the platform buyers deal with today.
The OpenPOWER Foundation is the body that governs open access to IBM's Power instruction set architecture. IBM opened the ISA and the Foundation exists to let other organizations design, build and sell Power-based hardware without licensing the design from IBM. For most IBM i and AIX buyers it is invisible. It still explains several things about the platform that otherwise look arbitrary.
What was actually opened, and what was not
This is where most explanations go wrong. Opening the Power ISA means the instruction set specification is available royalty-free, so a third party can design a compatible processor. It does not mean IBM published the design of its own chips. The POWER9, Power 10 and Power 11 implementations remain IBM's. What is open is the language the processor speaks, not the processor.
Open: the instruction set
The specification a compatible processor must implement. Royalty-free, which is what makes independent Power silicon legally possible at all.
Open: interfaces and firmware
Much of the surrounding interface and firmware work moved into the open ecosystem too, which is why Linux on Power has genuine multi-vendor support rather than depending on IBM alone.
Not open: IBM's implementations
The DCM and eSCM modules in a Power 11 system are IBM designs and IBM parts. Nothing about the Foundation gives you an alternative source for them.
Not open: IBM i
The operating system most readers of this site actually run is not part of any of it. IBM i is IBM's, licensed by software tier, and unaffected by ISA openness.
Why it matters to a Power buyer
The honest answer for an IBM i shop is: indirectly, and mostly through the software stack. You will not source a Power server from anyone but IBM and its resellers, and open licensing does nothing for your hardware pricing. What it does affect is the health of the surrounding ecosystem, and that shows up in ways that are easy to miss.
Toolchain and compiler support
Power support in GCC, LLVM and the wider open toolchain is maintained in the open, by more than one organization. That is also why compiler patches for an unannounced future processor are publicly visible years ahead of hardware.
Linux on Power viability
Red Hat, SUSE and OpenShift support on Power is a genuine multi-vendor ecosystem rather than a single-vendor port. For the L-series machine types sold specifically for Linux, that is the foundation the whole proposition rests on.
Long-term architecture confidence
An open ISA under Linux Foundation governance is harder to abandon than a proprietary one. For a platform whose customers plan in ten and twenty-year horizons, that is a real if unglamorous benefit.
What it does not do
It does not create alternative suppliers for your server, does not reduce IBM i licensing cost and does not change software tier pricing. Anyone presenting openness as a procurement lever is overselling it.
Related
The directory entry is at OpenPOWER Foundation. For how this philosophy shapes IBM\'s engineering decisions, see vertical integration and OpenPOWER philosophy and engineering leadership. For what it suggests about the next generation, the Power 12 CPU page.