Simple-V is a Scalable Vector ISA Extension specifically tailored for the uniquely powerful capabilities of the Power ISA. SVP64 is the instruction set format. We invented Simple-V to be simple because we don't like complicated.

Simple-V does not modify harm or corrupt the existing Power ISA and does not interfere with an existing system. It needs only a small allocation of opcodes (five) to implement, whereas any other Vector implementation would require an intrusive fundamental overhaul of the Power ISA.

It is extremely important to think of Simple-V as a 2-Dimensional ISA: instructions vertical and registers horizontal otherwise it will be difficult to grasp and appreciate its RISC simplicity. Like all Cray-Style Scalable Vector ISAs, Simple-V binaries remain ubiquitous, the ISA uniform. The Compliancy Levels offer a means to scale up in complexity to meet the target application requirements.

• GPUs may implement massive-wide SIMD back-ends, focussing on number-crunching.
• Existing Multi-issue Superscalar implementations may insert Simple-V between decode and issue with minimal disruption.
• Single-issue in-order implementations are very straightforward.
• Inter-core communication (OpenCAPI, other) may still be utilised because SVP64 fundamentally remains and respects the Power ISA.

All implementations regardless of back-end capability may execute the exact same binaries (this is known to be extremely important to the Power ISA ecosystem). If not done as carefully as SVP64, the addition of any other Scalable Vector Extension would require a significant number of opcodes, putting further pressure on Major Opcode space which was never designed with Scalable Vectors in mind. Contrast with RISC-V which was designed over a 7 year period with Cray-style Vectors right from the start.

Even with this amount of time spent, SVP64 exceeds the capability of RVV. RISC-V could have been significantly enhanced if Simple V had been applied to it: this possibility was investigated very early but the decision was made to go with Power ISA instead.

Therefore it is crucial to note that Simple-V is not RISC-V and is not RISC-V Vectors. NEC SX Aurora, RVV, Simple-V and MRISC32 are all based on Cray-style Scalable Vectors of 50 years ago, hence the similarity, the provision of a setvl instruction, and why they are each called "Scalable" Vectors, because it is the setvl instruction that presents the programmer with explicit control over Vector length.

VSX and NEON are PackedSIMD, and AVX-512 and ARM SVE2 are Predicated SIMD ISAs. None of them provide Scalability to the Programmer. SVE2 is Silicon Scalable, not Programmer Scalable: the distinction is profoundly important (already causing problems ). For Predicated SIMD, Programmers must emulate Cray-style scaling through explicit predicate masking, which increases instruction count in hot-loops.