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56-784: The Apple A5 is a 32-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. , part of the Apple silicon series, and manufactured by Samsung . The first product Apple featured an A5 in was the iPad 2 . Apple claimed during their media event on March 2, 2011, that the ARM Cortex-A9 central processing unit (CPU) in the A5 is up to two times faster than the CPU in the Apple A4 , and the PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics processing unit (GPU) in

112-558: A mainframe or big iron , is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses , industry and consumer statistics , enterprise resource planning , and large-scale transaction processing . A mainframe computer is large but not as large as a supercomputer and has more processing power than some other classes of computers, such as minicomputers , servers , workstations , and personal computers . Most large-scale computer-system architectures were established in

168-452: A fraction of the acquisition price and offer local users much greater control over their own systems given the IT policies and practices at that time. Terminals used for interacting with mainframe systems were gradually replaced by personal computers . Consequently, demand plummeted and new mainframe installations were restricted mainly to financial services and government. In the early 1990s, there

224-546: A level of sophistication not usually available with most server solutions. Modern mainframes, notably the IBM Z servers, offer two levels of virtualization : logical partitions ( LPARs , via the PR/SM facility) and virtual machines (via the z/VM operating system). Many mainframe customers run two machines: one in their primary data center and one in their backup data center —fully active, partially active, or on standby—in case there

280-487: A mirror surface. HDR imagery allows for the reflection of highlights that can still be seen as bright white areas, instead of dull grey shapes. A 32-bit file format is a binary file format for which each elementary information is defined on 32 bits (or 4 bytes ). An example of such a format is the Enhanced Metafile Format . Mainframe computer A mainframe computer , informally called

336-434: A reference to the anticipated Year 2000 problem (Y2K). That trend started to turn around in the late 1990s as corporations found new uses for their existing mainframes and as the price of data networking collapsed in most parts of the world, encouraging trends toward more centralized computing. The growth of e-business also dramatically increased the number of back-end transactions processed by mainframe software as well as

392-407: A single mainframe can replace higher-functioning hardware services available to conventional servers . While mainframes pioneered this capability, virtualization is now available on most families of computer systems, though not always to the same degree or level of sophistication. Mainframes can add or hot swap system capacity without disrupting system function, with specificity and granularity to

448-501: A single-core 32 nm CPU). Apple also designed a separate high-performance variant of the A5 called the Apple A5X , which features a wider memory subsystem and two additional GPU cores. The A5X was used only in the third-generation iPad . The S5L8940 version of the A5 was used in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S. The CPU was manufactured on a 45 nm fabrication process. The die of this version takes up 122.2 mm of area. It uses

504-413: A total of 96 bits per pixel. 32-bit-per-channel images are used to represent values brighter than what sRGB color space allows (brighter than white); these values can then be used to more accurately retain bright highlights when either lowering the exposure of the image or when it is seen through a dark filter or dull reflection. For example, a reflection in an oil slick is only a fraction of that seen in

560-402: Is a 32-bit machine, with 32-bit registers and instructions that manipulate 32-bit quantities, but the external address bus is 36 bits wide, giving a larger address space than 4 GB, and the external data bus is 64 bits wide, primarily in order to permit a more efficient prefetch of instructions and data. Prominent 32-bit instruction set architectures used in general-purpose computing include

616-735: Is a catastrophe affecting the first building. Test, development, training, and production workload for applications and databases can run on a single machine, except for extremely large demands where the capacity of one machine might be limiting. Such a two-mainframe installation can support continuous business service, avoiding both planned and unplanned outages. In practice, many customers use multiple mainframes linked either by Parallel Sysplex and shared DASD (in IBM's case), or with shared, geographically dispersed storage provided by EMC or Hitachi. Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume input and output (I/O) and emphasize throughput computing. Since

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672-450: Is also spurring major mainframe investments to solve exceptionally difficult computing problems, e.g. providing unified, extremely high volume online transaction processing databases for 1 billion consumers across multiple industries (banking, insurance, credit reporting, government services, etc.) In late 2000, IBM introduced 64-bit z/Architecture , acquired numerous software companies such as Cognos and introduced those software products to

728-634: Is being refreshed. In the late 1950s, mainframes had only a rudimentary interactive interface (the console) and used sets of punched cards , paper tape , or magnetic tape to transfer data and programs. They operated in batch mode to support back office functions such as payroll and customer billing, most of which were based on repeated tape-based sorting and merging operations followed by line printing to preprinted continuous stationery . When interactive user terminals were introduced, they were used almost exclusively for applications (e.g. airline booking ) rather than program development. However, in 1961

784-760: Is dependent on its ability to scale, support mixed workloads, reduce labor costs, deliver uninterrupted service for critical business applications, and several other risk-adjusted cost factors. Mainframes also have execution integrity characteristics for fault tolerant computing. For example, z900, z990, System z9, and System z10 servers effectively execute result-oriented instructions twice, compare results, arbitrate between any differences (through instruction retry and failure isolation), then shift workloads "in flight" to functioning processors, including spares, without any impact to operating systems, applications, or users. This hardware-level feature, also found in HP's NonStop systems,

840-421: Is known as lock-stepping, because both processors take their "steps" (i.e. instructions) together. Not all applications absolutely need the assured integrity that these systems provide, but many do, such as financial transaction processing. IBM , with the IBM Z series, continues to be a major manufacturer in the mainframe market. In 2000, Hitachi co-developed the zSeries z900 with IBM to share expenses, and

896-554: Is unknown what the clock rate of the Cortex-A9 in the A5 used inside the third-generation Apple TV and third-generation Rev A Apple TV is. When the A5 was first released, the production cost of the chip was estimated to be 75% more than the A4, with the difference expected to diminish when production would later increase. As of August 2012, the A5 was manufactured at Samsung's Austin, Texas factory. Samsung invested $ 3.6 billion in

952-606: The 8088/8086 or 80286 , 16-bit microprocessors with a segmented address space where programs had to switch between segments to reach more than 64 kilobytes of code or data. As this is quite time-consuming in comparison to other machine operations, the performance may suffer. Furthermore, programming with segments tend to become complicated; special far and near keywords or memory models had to be used (with care), not only in assembly language but also in high level languages such as Pascal , compiled BASIC , Fortran , C , etc. The 80386 and its successors fully support

1008-824: The IBM System/360 , IBM System/370 (which had 24-bit addressing), System/370-XA , ESA/370 , and ESA/390 (which had 31-bit addressing), the DEC VAX , the NS320xx , the Motorola 68000 family (the first two models of which had 24-bit addressing), the Intel IA-32 32-bit version of the x86 architecture, and the 32-bit versions of the ARM , SPARC , MIPS , PowerPC and PA-RISC architectures. 32-bit instruction set architectures used for embedded computing include

1064-551: The IBM System/360 Model 30 had an 8-bit ALU, 8-bit internal data paths, and an 8-bit path to memory, and the original Motorola 68000 had a 16-bit data ALU and a 16-bit external data bus, but had 32-bit registers and a 32-bit oriented instruction set. The 68000 design was sometimes referred to as 16/32-bit . However, the opposite is often true for newer 32-bit designs. For example, the Pentium Pro processor

1120-590: The Motorola 68000 , was introduced in the late 1970s and used in systems such as the original Apple Macintosh . Fully 32-bit microprocessors such as the HP FOCUS , Motorola 68020 and Intel 80386 were launched in the early to mid 1980s and became dominant by the early 1990s. This generation of personal computers coincided with and enabled the first mass-adoption of the World Wide Web . While 32-bit architectures are still widely-used in specific applications,

1176-497: The Telum . Unisys produces code compatible mainframe systems that range from laptops to cabinet-sized mainframes that use homegrown CPUs as well as Xeon processors. Furthermore, there exists a market for software applications to manage the performance of mainframe implementations. In addition to IBM, significant market competitors include BMC and Precisely ; former competitors include Compuware and CA Technologies . Starting in

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1232-448: The integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 4,294,967,295 (2 − 1) for representation as an ( unsigned ) binary number , and −2,147,483,648 (−2 ) through 2,147,483,647 (2 − 1) for representation as two's complement . One important consequence is that a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access at most 4  GiB of byte-addressable memory (though in practice

1288-533: The 16-bit segments of the 80286 but also segments for 32-bit address offsets (using the new 32-bit width of the main registers). If the base address of all 32-bit segments is set to 0, and segment registers are not used explicitly, the segmentation can be forgotten and the processor appears as having a simple linear 32-bit address space. Operating systems like Windows or OS/2 provide the possibility to run 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility exists for backward compatibility and

1344-684: The 1960s, but they continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers. The term mainframe was derived from the large cabinet, called a main frame , that housed the central processing unit and main memory of early computers. Later, the term mainframe was used to distinguish high-end commercial computers from less powerful machines. Modern mainframe design is characterized less by raw computational speed and more by: The high stability and reliability of mainframes enable these machines to run uninterrupted for very long periods of time, with mean time between failures (MTBF) measured in decades. Mainframes have high availability , one of

1400-504: The 1980s, many mainframes supported general purpose graphic display terminals, and terminal emulation, but not graphical user interfaces. This form of end-user computing became obsolete in the 1990s due to the advent of personal computers provided with GUIs . After 2000, modern mainframes partially or entirely phased out classic " green screen " and color display terminal access for end-users in favour of Web-style user interfaces. The infrastructure requirements were drastically reduced during

1456-601: The 2010s, cloud computing is now a less expensive, more scalable alternative. Several manufacturers and their successors produced mainframe computers from the 1950s until the early 21st century, with gradually decreasing numbers and a gradual transition to simulation on Intel chips rather than proprietary hardware. The US group of manufacturers was first known as " IBM and the Seven Dwarfs ": usually Burroughs , UNIVAC , NCR , Control Data , Honeywell , General Electric and RCA , although some lists varied. Later, with

1512-926: The 64-bit IBM Z CMOS servers have nothing physically in common with the older systems. Notable manufacturers outside the US were Siemens and Telefunken in Germany , ICL in the United Kingdom , Olivetti in Italy, and Fujitsu , Hitachi , Oki , and NEC in Japan . The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries manufactured close copies of IBM mainframes during the Cold War ; the BESM series and Strela are examples of independently designed Soviet computers. Elwro in Poland

1568-423: The 68000 family and ColdFire , x86, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and Infineon TriCore architectures. On the x86 architecture , a 32-bit application normally means software that typically (not necessarily) uses the 32-bit linear address space (or flat memory model ) possible with the 80386 and later chips. In this context, the term came about because DOS , Microsoft Windows and OS/2 were originally written for

1624-615: The A5 is up to nine times faster than the GPU in the A4. Apple also claimed that the A5 uses the same amount of power as the A4. The last operating system update Apple provided for a mobile device containing an A5 (iPad 2 CDMA, iPhone 4S , and first-generation iPad Mini cellular models) was iOS 9.3.6 , which was released on July 22, 2019, as they were discontinued with the release of iOS 10 in 2016. The latest operating system update Apple has provided for an Apple TV containing an A5 ( third-generation Apple TV and third-generation Rev A Apple TV )

1680-477: The Austin facility to produce various chips, and nearly all of the facility's output was dedicated to producing Apple chips. Samsung later invested a further $ 4.2 billion in the Austin facility in order to transition to a 28 nm fabrication process by the second half of 2013. Three versions of the A5 chip exist: S5L8940 (containing a 45 nm CPU), S5L8942 (containing a 32 nm CPU), and S5L8947 (containing

1736-409: The Cortex-A9 in the A5 used inside the iPad 2 and first-generation iPad Mini is 1 GHz. Both of these devices, unlike devices containing the A4 with a clock rate of 800 MHz, can automatically underclock their A5 chip to save battery life. The clock rate of the Cortex-A9 in the A5 used inside the iPhone 4S and fifth-generation iPod Touch is 800 MHz ( underclocked from 1 GHz). It

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1792-547: The Japanese market. The amount of vendor investment in mainframe development varies with market share. Fujitsu and Hitachi both continue to use custom S/390-compatible processors, as well as other CPUs (including POWER and Xeon) for lower-end systems. Bull uses a mixture of Itanium and Xeon processors. NEC uses Xeon processors for its low-end ACOS-2 line, but develops the custom NOAH-6 processor for its high-end ACOS-4 series. IBM also develops custom processors in-house, such as

1848-452: The PC and server market has moved on to 64 bits with x86-64 and other 64-bit architectures since the mid-2000s with installed memory often exceeding the 32-bit 4G RAM address limits on entry level computers. The latest generation of smartphones have also switched to 64 bits. A 32-bit register can store 2 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits depends on

1904-530: The PoP method of installation to support RAM. The top package contains two 256 MB LPDDR2 chips, providing a total of 512 MB of RAM. The S5L8942 version of the A5 was used in the third-generation Apple TV (one CPU core is disabled), the iPad 2 (iPad2,4 revision), the fifth-generation iPod Touch, and the first-generation iPad Mini. The CPU was manufactured on a 32 nm fabrication process. The die of this version takes up 69.6 mm of area—nearly 41% smaller than

1960-500: The PoP method of installation to support RAM—RAM is found externally from the A5 chip. The die of this version takes up 37.8mm of area, using a new design made specifically for the third-generation Rev A Apple TV. These images are illustrations and approximate to scale. 32-bit 32-bit designs have been used since the earliest days of electronic computing, in experimental systems and then in large mainframe and minicomputer systems. The first hybrid 16/32-bit microprocessor ,

2016-529: The back-office engines behind the world's financial markets and much of global commerce". As of 2010 , while mainframe technology represented less than 3% of IBM's revenues, it "continue[d] to play an outsized role in Big Blue's results". IBM has continued to launch new generations of mainframes: the IBM z13 in 2015, the z14 in 2017, the z15 in 2019, and the z16 in 2022, the latter featuring among other things an "integrated on-chip AI accelerator" and

2072-596: The departure of General Electric and RCA, it was referred to as IBM and the BUNCH . IBM's dominance grew out of their 700/7000 series and, later, the development of the 360 series mainframes. The latter architecture has continued to evolve into their current zSeries mainframes which, along with the then Burroughs and Sperry (now Unisys ) MCP -based and OS1100 mainframes, are among the few mainframe architectures still extant that can trace their roots to this early period. While IBM's zSeries can still run 24-bit System/360 code,

2128-485: The die of the S5L8940 version. Like the S5L8940 version, it uses the PoP method of installation to support RAM. The top package contains two 256 MB LPDDR2 chips, providing a total of 512 MB of RAM. The S5L8947 version of the A5 was used only in the third-generation Rev A Apple TV. Unlike the previous two A5 versions, this version contains only one CPU core. Also unlike the previous two A5 versions, this version does not use

2184-570: The early 1990s, many supercomputers were based on a mainframe architecture with supercomputing extensions. An example of such a system is the HITAC S-3800 , which was instruction-set compatible with IBM System/370 mainframes, and could run the Hitachi VOS3 operating system (a fork of IBM MVS ). The S-3800 therefore can be seen as being both simultaneously a supercomputer and also an IBM-compatible mainframe. In 2007, an amalgamation of

2240-748: The first academic, general-purpose timesharing system that supported software development, CTSS , was released at MIT on an IBM 709 , later 7090 and 7094. Typewriter and Teletype devices were common control consoles for system operators through the early 1970s, although ultimately supplanted by keyboard / display devices. By the early 1970s, many mainframes acquired interactive user terminals operating as timesharing computers, supporting hundreds of users simultaneously along with batch processing. Users gained access through keyboard/typewriter terminals and later character-mode text terminal CRT displays with integral keyboards, or finally from personal computers equipped with terminal emulation software. By

2296-574: The first decades of 32-bit architectures (the 1960s to the 1980s). Older 32-bit processor families (or simpler, cheaper variants thereof) could therefore have many compromises and limitations in order to cut costs. This could be a 16-bit ALU , for instance, or external (or internal) buses narrower than 32 bits, limiting memory size or demanding more cycles for instruction fetch, execution or write back. Despite this, such processors could be labeled 32-bit , since they still had 32-bit registers and instructions able to manipulate 32-bit quantities. For example,

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2352-572: The first time. IBM received the vast majority of mainframe revenue. During the 1980s, minicomputer -based systems grew more sophisticated and were able to displace the lower end of the mainframes. These computers, sometimes called departmental computers , were typified by the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX series. In 1991, AT&T Corporation briefly owned NCR. During the same period, companies found that servers based on microcomputer designs could be deployed at

2408-709: The late 1950s, mainframe designs have included subsidiary hardware (called channels or peripheral processors ) which manage the I/O devices, leaving the CPU free to deal only with high-speed memory. It is common in mainframe shops to deal with massive databases and files. Gigabyte to terabyte -size record files are not unusual. Compared to a typical PC, mainframes commonly have hundreds to thousands of times as much data storage online, and can access it reasonably quickly. Other server families also offload I/O processing and emphasize throughput computing. Mainframe return on investment (ROI), like any other computing platform,

2464-730: The latest Hitachi AP10000 models are made by IBM. Unisys manufactures ClearPath Libra mainframes, based on earlier Burroughs MCP products and ClearPath Dorado mainframes based on Sperry Univac OS 1100 product lines. Hewlett Packard Enterprise sells its unique NonStop systems, which it acquired with Tandem Computers and which some analysts classify as mainframes. Groupe Bull 's GCOS , Stratus OpenVOS , Fujitsu (formerly Siemens) BS2000 , and Fujitsu- ICL VME mainframes are still available in Europe, and Fujitsu (formerly Amdahl) GS21 mainframes globally. NEC with ACOS and Hitachi with AP10000- VOS3 still maintain mainframe businesses in

2520-412: The latter is usually meant to be used for new software development . In digital images/pictures, 32-bit usually refers to RGBA color space ; that is, 24-bit truecolor images with an additional 8-bit alpha channel . Other image formats also specify 32 bits per pixel, such as RGBE . In digital images, 32-bit sometimes refers to high-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) formats that use 32 bits per channel,

2576-468: The limit may be lower). The world's first stored-program electronic computer , the Manchester Baby , used a 32-bit architecture in 1948, although it was only a proof of concept and had little practical capacity. It held only 32 32-bit words of RAM on a Williams tube , and had no addition operation, only subtraction. Memory, as well as other digital circuits and wiring, was expensive during

2632-477: The mainframe. IBM's quarterly and annual reports in the 2000s usually reported increasing mainframe revenues and capacity shipments. However, IBM's mainframe hardware business has not been immune to the recent overall downturn in the server hardware market or to model cycle effects. For example, in the 4th quarter of 2009, IBM's System z hardware revenues decreased by 27% year over year. But MIPS (millions of instructions per second) shipments increased 4% per year over

2688-472: The mid-1990s, when CMOS mainframe designs replaced the older bipolar technology. IBM claimed that its newer mainframes reduced data center energy costs for power and cooling, and reduced physical space requirements compared to server farms . Modern mainframes can run multiple different instances of operating systems at the same time. This technique of virtual machines allows applications to run as if they were on physically distinct computers. In this role,

2744-433: The most secure, with vulnerabilities in the low single digits, as compared to thousands for Windows , UNIX , and Linux . Software upgrades usually require setting up the operating system or portions thereof, and are non disruptive only when using virtualizing facilities such as IBM z/OS and Parallel Sysplex , or Unisys XPCL, which support workload sharing so that one system can take over another's application while it

2800-431: The new Telum microprocessor . A supercomputer is a computer at the leading edge of data processing capability, with respect to calculation speed. Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems ( high-performance computing ) which crunch numbers and data, while mainframes focus on transaction processing. The differences are: Mainframes and supercomputers cannot always be clearly distinguished; up until

2856-433: The past two years. Alsop had himself photographed in 2000, symbolically eating his own words ("death to the mainframe"). In 2012, NASA powered down its last mainframe, an IBM System z9. However, IBM's successor to the z9, the z10 , led a New York Times reporter to state four years earlier that "mainframe technology—hardware, software and services—remains a large and lucrative business for I.B.M., and mainframes are still

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2912-632: The primary reasons for their longevity, since they are typically used in applications where downtime would be costly or catastrophic. The term reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) is a defining characteristic of mainframe computers. Proper planning and implementation are required to realize these features. In addition, mainframes are more secure than other computer types: the NIST vulnerabilities database, US-CERT , rates traditional mainframes such as IBM Z (previously called z Systems, System z, and zSeries), Unisys Dorado, and Unisys Libra as among

2968-617: The size and throughput of databases. Batch processing, such as billing, became even more important (and larger) with the growth of e-business, and mainframes are particularly adept at large-scale batch computing. Another factor currently increasing mainframe use is the development of the Linux operating system, which arrived on IBM mainframe systems in 1999. Linux allows users to take advantage of open source software combined with mainframe hardware RAS . Rapid expansion and development in emerging markets , particularly People's Republic of China ,

3024-695: Was Apple TV Software 7.9 , which was released on March 14, 2022. The A5 chip features a dual-core 45 nm Cortex-A9 CPU (shrunk to 32 nm in later versions of the chip) including the Advanced SIMD (Neon) extension, and a dual-core 32 nm PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. The A5 integrates an image signal processor unit (ISP) that can perform advanced image post-processing, such as face detection, white balance, and automatic image stabilization. The A5 also directly integrates Audience earSmart technology for removing surrounding background noise and secondary voices during phone calls. The clock rate of

3080-410: Was a rough consensus among industry analysts that the mainframe was a dying market as mainframe platforms were increasingly replaced by personal computer networks. InfoWorld ' s Stewart Alsop infamously predicted that the last mainframe would be unplugged in 1996; in 1993, he cited Cheryl Currid, a computer industry analyst as saying that the last mainframe "will stop working on December 31, 1999",

3136-573: Was another Eastern Bloc manufacturer, producing the ODRA , R-32 and R-34 mainframes. Shrinking demand and tough competition started a shakeout in the market in the early 1970s—RCA sold out to UNIVAC and GE sold its business to Honeywell; between 1986 and 1990 Honeywell was bought out by Bull ; UNIVAC became a division of Sperry , which later merged with Burroughs to form Unisys Corporation in 1986. In 1984 estimated sales of desktop computers ($ 11.6 billion) exceeded mainframe computers ($ 11.4 billion) for

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