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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Breaking News -
Platforms:
Sun Adds To Throughput Computing
Strategy With UltraSPARC IV
Sun Microsystems Inc kicked-off the 16th annual Microprocessor Forum by
disclosing additional information on its throughput computing strategy and the
new UltraSPARC IV processor. The UltraSPARC IV has the potential to double the
throughput of Sun's existing high-end and mid-range systems when it hits the
market in the first half of 2004.
In a recent Microprocessor Report article on throughput computing,
In-Stat/MDR
senior analyst Kevin Krewell wrote, "We're excited to see Sun taking
aggressive steps to reinvent and redefine server processor performance and
challenge the industry with this daring move. With a renewed sense of
excitement and challenge (...), Sun is once again taking up the role of
innovator and is showing it will not allow Intel's Itanium juggernaut to roll
over it."
Throughput computing is core to Sun's strategy for the future of network
computing and its SPARC and Solaris systems. At the heart of this new strategy
is Chip Multithreading (CMT), a design concept that allows the processor to
execute tens of threads simultaneously, thus enabling tremendous increases in
application throughput. Sun is bringing CMT to the market in a phased
approach. First generation CMT processors, such as the UltraSPARC IV family of
processors, can enhance current UltraSPARC III system throughput, initially by
up to two times, and later by up to three to four times the current levels. In
the future, Sun will be rolling out a more radical CMT design, which will
first appear in Sun's blade platform in 2006, that can increase the throughput
of today's UltraSPARC IIIi systems by up to 15 times.
The UltraSPARC IV processor will introduce CMT technology into Sun's
current
mid-range and high-end server lines. This new fourth generation UltraSPARC
processor maintains Sun's tradition of binary compatibility, preserving the
investment customers have made in development tools and application software,
and it will also help current Uniboard-based Sun Fire customers preserve the
investments made in their systems.
The dual-threaded architecture of the initial member of the UltraSPARC IV
processor family consists of two UltraSPARC III cores and includes on-chip
tags for 8MB of off-chip two-way set-associative Level 2 cache per core. A
dynamic arbitration scheme allows each thread to make optimal use of the
available L2 bandwidth. Other shared interfaces on the UltraSPARC IV processor
include an on-chip memory controller supporting up to 16GB of DRAM, and a
system interface unit providing access to the Sun Fireplane interconnect
fabric.
Built with Texas Instrument's 130 nanometer (nm) process technology, the
processor will operate at an initial frequency of 1200 MHz, moving higher over
time. The performance improvements from the UltraSPARC IV design are expected
to range from 1.6 to two times the throughput of today's 1200 MHz UltraSPARC
III processor on typical business applications. Customers' performance will
vary based on system configuration and the nature of the workloads. A future
member of the UltraSPARC IV family will take advantage of Texas Instrument's
90nm technology node to provide a number of architectural enhancements and
increase clock speeds, in order to increase throughput by up to three to four
times today's UltraSPARC III.
More information on Throughput Computing can be found at
www.sun.com/processors/throughput.
About Sun Microsystems Inc
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The
Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a leading
provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the
Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide
Web at sun.com/.
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