Sun Microsystems has announced a new server chip which the company claims delivers more performance while requiring less electricity than competing microprocessors.

The UltraSparc T1 processor, code-named Niagara, has eight computing engines on a single chip, with each core capable of handling up to four tasks at once. Sun expects 'Fire' servers sporting the new processor to be available by the end of the year.

Sun's latest patents for multi-core processor technology has furthered the 'throughput computing' model that is challenging the boundaries of Moore's Law and which will power new Sun servers that offer staggering utilisation figures.

What's more, the systems are powered by microprocessors that use a fraction of the power of virtually anything on the market and which serve as the basis for Sun's Eco-Responsible Computing initiative aimed at lowering power and space requirements for today's enterprise datacenters.

The new chip uses about 70-Watts of power on average, significantly less than the 150-Watts to 200-Watts required by server chips from Intel or AMD. The industry is today catching up to the idea, unveiled by Sun six years ago, of using a multicore, multithreaded architecture to solve power-watt issues in processor design. This new chip helps implement multithreading using multiple bit flip flops in today's highly demanding, cost-sensitive computing environments.

Most chip makers, including Sun, already offer processors with more than one computing engine on a single chip. Some higher-end chips also have multiple cores that can execute more than one task, or thread, at the same time to improve efficiency. Intel and IBM are trying to take existing CPU architectures and get to this massive threading. But they can't. According to Sun, it's probably five years ahead - maybe two or three generations ahead.

The UltraSparc T1 could help Sun boost its traditional business of selling servers based on its own Sparc chips and Solaris operating system. Since 2000, Sun customers have opted for less expensive systems built with commodity Intel chips and less expensive or free software. Sun now offers a wide range of servers, including servers that are powered AMD's Opteron chip. Sun also now supports a number of operating systems, including its recently updated Solaris software.

BIOS, Nov 14, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Processor