Governing Documents
The governing documents of the organization include its Bylaws, IP Rights Policy and Membership Agreement. All members upon joining the organization must sign the OpenCAPI Membership Agreement that attests in writing that they have read and agree to abide by the terms of both the OpenCAPI Bylaws as well as the Intellectual Property Rights Agreement.
Mission Statement
The Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI) on IBM POWER8 systems enables solution architects to improve system-level performance. CAPI connects a custom acceleration engine to the coherent fabric of the POWER8 chip. The hybrid solution has a simple programming paradigm while delivering performance well beyond today’s I/O-attached acceleration engines.
The mission of OpenCAPI is to advance CAPI, its performance benefits to the HPC (High Performance Computing) ecosystem and its market adoption.
Structure
OpenCAPI Consortium is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors, consisting of a single director appointed by each of the Founders – AMD, Google, IBM, Mellanox Technologies and Micron. The Board is led by a Chairman and supported by a President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Board manages the general affairs of the organization, composed of Board level, Contributor level, Observer level and Associate/Academic level members. The Board acts in the best interest of its members and controls the direction of the organization and its operations as well as providing for the final decision-making body as it relates to OpenCAPI work products.
The Board receives technical direction from a Technical Steering Committee (TSC), comprised of elected representatives from member companies.
The Marketing Working Group is responsible for developing and executing activities that promote the goals of the OpenCAPI Consortium, and any other activities which raise awareness for the organization. Participation on the Marketing Working Group is voluntary and is available to representatives of member companies.
Investigation Working Groups may be formed by the Board to evaluate and consider new technology or market trends which would benefit from the development of an OpenCAPI specification. These new groups conduct their research and report any findings to the Board. From here, the Board determines whether to form an official working group to develop the necessary specifications.
The Board approves and directs Working Groups to evaluate or develop specifications to meet a specific requirement. Current Working Groups will be defined to focus on several areas. New Working Groups are created and older Working Groups may be terminated as market requirements for standards evolve over time. OpenCAPI specifications are drafted by Working Groups and approved by the Board of Directors.
Additional information on the OpenCAPI Consortium can be found at www.opencapi.org.