Energyscale Device - IBM BladeCenter PS700 Technical Overview And Introduction

Processor folding
Processor folding is a consolidation technique that dynamically adjusts, over the
short-term, the number of processors available for dispatch to match the number of
processors demanded by the workload. As the workload increases, the number of
processors made available increases. As the workload decreases, the number of
processors made available decreases. Processor folding increases energy savings during
periods of low to moderate workload because unavailable processors remain in low-power
idle states longer.
EnergyScale for I/O
IBM POWER processor-based systems automatically power off pluggable, PCI adapter
slots that are empty or not being used. System firmware automatically scans all pluggable
PCI slots at regular intervals, looking for those that meet the criteria for being not in use
and powering them off. This support is available for all POWER processor-based servers,
and the expansion units that they support.
In addition to the normal EnergyScale functions, the EnergyScale device in the PS700,
PS701, and PS702 blades incorporate the following BladeCenter functions:
Transition from over-subscribed power consumption to nominal power consumption when
commanded by the BladeCenter AMM. This transition is signaled by the AMM as a result
of a redundant power supply failure in the BladeCenter.
Report blade power consumption to the AMM through the service processor
Report blade system voltage levels to the AMM through the service processor
Accommodate BladeCenter/AMM defined thermal triggers such as warning temperature,
throttle temperature, and critical temperature

2.13.2 EnergyScale device

The EnergyScale device dynamically optimizes the processor performance depending on
processor power and system workload.
The IBM POWER7 chip is a significant improvement in power and performance over the IBM
POWER6 chip. POWER7 has more internal hardware, and power and thermal management
functions to interact with:
More hardware: Eight cores versus two cores, four threads versus two threads per core,
and asynchronous processor core chiplet
Advanced Idle Power Management functions
Advanced Dynamic Power Management (DPM) functions in all units in hardware
(processor cores, processor core chiplet, chip-level nest unit level, and chip level)
Advanced Actuators/Control
Advanced Accelerators
The new EnergyScale device has a more powerful microcontroller, more A/D channels and
more busses to handle the increase workload, link traffic, and new power and thermal
functions.
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IBM BladeCenter PS700, PS701, and PS702 Technical Overview and Introduction