IBM and Xilinx, through a private signed agreement and collaboration through the OpenPOWER Foundation, are teaming to develop open acceleration infrastructures, software and middleware to address emerging applications such as machine learning, network functions virtualization (NFV), genomics, high performance computing (HPC) and big data analytics.

As part of the IBM and Xilinx strategic collaboration, IBM Systems Group developers will create solution stacks for POWER-based servers, storage and middleware systems with Xilinx FPGA accelerators for data center architectures such as OpenStack, Docker, and Spark.

IBM will also develop and qualify Xilinx accelerator boards into IBM Power Systems servers. Xilinx is developing and will release POWER-based versions of its leading software defined SDAccel™ Development Environment and libraries for the OpenPOWER developer community.

Additionally, IBM and Xilinx will continue to further utilize IBM’s innovative Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI) to deliver accelerated computing value to its clients. CAPI, a unique feature built into the POWER architecture, provides Xilinx and the technology industry at large with the ability to build tightly integrated, coherent solutions right on top of the POWER architecture.

“The combination of IBM and Xilinx provides our clients not only with a new level of accelerated computing made possible by the tight integration between IBM POWER processors and Xilinx FPGAs, but also gives them the ability to benefit directly from the constant stream of innovation being delivered by the rapidly expanding OpenPOWER ecosystem,” said Ken King, General Manager, OpenPOWER, IBM.

“Xilinx is collaborating with IBM, data center customers and the industry ecosystem to enable world class solutions for the next generation of cloud computing and NFV applications,” said Hemant Dhulla, Vice President of Wired Communications and Data Center Business, Xilinx. “IBM’s vast resources and expertise in data center and cloud software will contribute greatly to the FPGA-based accelerator movement currently underway.”