The Register: Power6 "to come"

The Register reported late last week having come upon an IBM slide presentation that pushed Power6 availability from mid-2007 out into the “to come” time frame:

Over the past few weeks, IBM has been holding technology discussions in Germany, disclosing information on its Power-based server line. The Register happened upon the slide deck for one such presentation and noticed a major shift in the Power roadmap. IBM’s Power5+ processor has been extended out through the duration of 2007, while Power6 has been shoved into the “to come” era.

A spokesman denied any delays. “IBM is on track to launch POWER6-based servers in mid-year 2007,” he said.

You may recall that the chip was originally slated for 2006. This is the chip IBM previously revealed would approach 5 GHz clock rates. If that is indeed their target, it makes sense they could be having real yield problems in production.

If you can confirm or refute the story (and if you can tell us about it), please leave a comment or drop me a line.