Sun sheds light on MPU roadmap

By Jack Robertson
iApplianceWeb
(06/26/02, 01:57:43 PM EDT)

Sun Microsystems Inc. Tuesday laid out the next leg of its microprocessor roadmap, which is heavily populated with chips to take on Intel Corp. in the low-cost and Web-based server markets.

As expected, Sun also lifted the kimono on its next-generation high-performance UltraSPARC IV and UltraSPARC V processors. The company declined to detail when the new MPUs would be introduced. Sun's updated roadmap was released the same week that Intel began a publicity buildup surrounding its new 64-bit Itanium 2 processors.

Sun disclosed that it will shortly unveil a new lower-cost family of UltraSPARC IIIi chips ranging from 1.1 to 1.4GHz for Web-based and other large servers. A new UltraSparc IIIe processor will also be introduced with a smaller 1MByte on-die L3 cache than the 3Mbytes found on the exisitng chip.

David Yen, vice president of Sun's processor products group, who is soon to be named a company executive vice president, also revealed that Sun had signed a letter of intent to acquire Afara Web Systems of San Jose, Calif., a startup that is designing its own UltaSPARC processor for Web servers. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, is expected to be completed next month.

Yen said Sun is interested in Afara's unique architecture, but a spokesman later said it has not yet been decided if the Afara design would become a new member of the UltraSPARC family or incorporated into new versions of the existing MPU line.

Yen also said Sun will use 90nm chip processing for the first time -- not in its upcoming UltraSPARC V processor -- but in upgraded versions of earlier-generation MPUs.

"In order to make sure the [90nm] process is stable, we want to drive the development work with a known architecture and technology," he said. "That adds more confidence when we move to UltraSPARC V using the same process."

Yen also said Sun will expand its line of Linux-based servers into a broad family of products. A spokesman later explained this move will extend the line of X86-based servers resulting from the acquisition several years ago of Cobalt Systems. The spokesman said Sun hasn't yet decided whether to use processors from either Intel or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in these systems. Previously Cobalt servers had used MPUs from both vendors.

Sun was less revealing when it came ot its upcoming high-performance UltraSPARC IV and UltraSPARC V processors. Yen said UltraSPARC IV, the first chip to use 13-micron processing, can be expected soon "since the 0.13-micron processes are becoming more mature." The chip will include clock frequencies from 1.2 to 2GHz.

The UltraSPARC V will not appear until the 90nm processing node is mature, which Yen estimated will be at the end of 2003 or early 2004. Those chips will range in speed from 1.8 to 3GHz.

Additionally, Sun is developing single-die multiprocessors using a multi-threaded technique similar to Intel's Hyperthreading technology. The company said the multi-threading technique could also be used in the UltraSPARC IV or UltraSPARC V chips.