Introduction to IBM Spyre Accelerator

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The Spyre AI Card, also known as the IBM® Spyre Accelerator, is a high-performance, energy-efficient PCIe add-on designed to enhance AI inferencing capabilities on IBM Z® and LinuxONE systems.

For more information, see the content solution for Spyre Accelerator for IBM Z and LinuxONE available at https://www.ibm.com/support/z-content-solutions/spyre-accelerator-z-and-linuxone/.

Key features include:

  • Architecture & Specs
    • Equipped with 32 AI accelerator cores, capable of handling matrix operations and low‑precision workloads for high throughput.
    • Manufactured using Samsung’s advanced 5 nm process node.
    • Each card supports up to 128 GB of LPDDR5 memory, with ensembles of up to eight cards delivering 1 TB memory and massive AI performance.
    • Delivers exceptional AI compute—exceeding 300 TOPS per card—while consuming just 75 W.
  • Usage & Benefits
    • Delivers advanced ensemble AI workflows by complementing the on‑chip Telum‑II AI accelerator, enabling multi‑model inferencing for tasks like real‑time fraud detection and code assistance.
    • Enables on‑premises generative AI use cases—such as running Watsonx Code Assistant™—while maintaining the inherent security, reliability, and data locality of the IBM Z environment.

Appliance Control Center for IBM Z & IBM LinuxONE

The Appliance Control Center (ACC) is a secure application for deploying software appliances on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE systems. It integrates with the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to manage and monitor appliances across multiple systems. ACC enables users to upload SSC-based appliances and updates, then handles their installation. By streamlining deployment, control, and maintenance, ACC simplifies appliance lifecycle management.

Spyre Support Appliance for IBM Z & IBM LinuxONE

The Spyre Support Appliance (SSA) is a dedicated solution for managing, monitoring, and diagnosing Spyre cards attached to IBM Z Logical Partitions (LPARs). SSA continuously tracks all connected Spyre cards to optimize performance and enable proactive error handling. Upon initialization, it activates all assigned Spyre cards and performs real-time monitoring—checking every second for newly added or removed cards, and dynamically handling initialization or cleanup. Beyond lifecycle management, SSA collects key metrics and health data to maintain performance and support early issue detection.