(1) See computer power.

(2) (POWER) (Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC) A RISC-based CPU architecture from IBM used in its pSeries, iSeries and i5 computer lines. The PowerPC, enhanced by Motorola and Apple, is a single-chip version of the POWER architecture. POWER CPUs and PowerPC CPUs share a common instruction set that provides binary compatibility in some cases or compatibility by recompilation. Following is the evolution of POWER chips. See PowerPC, iSeries and pSeries.

                    Word
  POWER     Year    Size   # of
  Series    Intro. (bits)  Trans.  Features

  POWER5    2004     64   276M
  POWER4+   2002     64   180M     0.13 process
  POWER4    2001     64   174M
  POWER3-II 2000     64   15M      copper
  POWER3    1998     64   15M      SMP

  POWER2    1993     32   15M
  POWER1    1990     32   800K

  SMP = See symmetric multiprocessing.
  copper = See copper chip.
  0.13 process = See process technology.