Sun To Use AMD Mobile Processor In Blade Servers

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like AMD is finally making some headway into supplying 1st tier business computer makers which the announcement that Sun will use their chips in upcoming blade servers. Apparently CNET can't help but speculate what this means for AMD's 64 bit Hammer."

Comments

Good news for Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow -- Sun is boosting Linux in a BIG way now. Although they have not said so, they are probably preparing for the day when Solaris will be phased out. It will be a gradual process of course, much like the way IBM is slowly depreciating AIX.

This is VERY interesting news since at this moment Sun is holding their Chip Conference where the future of Sparc is being discussed.

Re:Good news for Linux

[LarryRiedel]

they are probably preparing for the day when Solaris will be phased out. It will be a gradual process of course, much like the way IBM is slowly depreciating AIX.

I see no reason for them to plan to phase Solaris out. It is arguably (and often measurably) better than Linux for the things where it wants to be better (dedicated servers), and I see no indication that is going to change. Linux has a lot of hardware drivers, and is great with system call overhead and other things which are nice to have on a single-user single CPU desktop system or small server, but I do not think Solaris has been worried about that kind of use for several years.

If Linux gets to a point where it is better than Solaris at the things Solaris is supposed to be good at, then I think Sun might think about using it instead, but I see no indication of things going in that direction. Not to mention that Solaris is extremely well documented.

Larry

Don't over look the real news.

[Chris_Stankowitz]

After years of touting its own UltraSparc processors as sufficient for all manner of computing, Sun last year bowed to market realities and accepted general-purpose Intel-compatible computers into its server line.

I *think* I know how the market will respond to this as far as AMD is conccernd, I'll be keeping an eye on what this does/means for sun.

Before anyone talks about the death of SPARC...

[Wakko Warner]

...they are also making an UltraSPARC server blade.

- A.P.

Re:But what about the end of Sun?

[Amiga Trombone]

Well, Cringely is entitled to his opinion, but I doubt Sun will be going anywhere for quite some time. I can see them getting replaced with x86 on the low end, but somehow I don't think x86 boxes will be replacing machines like the E10K or the E15K any time soon. But I can see where Sun will end up a smaller, humbler company as a result.

Truthfully, I don't think this will do much for AMD one or the other. Sun is just marketing these things to prevent current customers from looking elsewhere. You can be pretty sure the main emphasis will still be on Sparc.

Sun should buy AMD

[puppetluva]

I've had a number of discussions with folks about this over the last few years.

1) Sun can still afford it.
2) They gain instant credibility in the x86 market.
3) AMD gains credibility in the enterprise (luring really big enterprise customers with real service)
4) Sun gets 2 of the leading 64-bit processor platforms, plus some control over the Windows hardware platform.
5) Sun gets to own their chip manufacturer (rather than rely on stinky TI and Fujitsu for the Sparc line).
6) Sun can control the cost of its Linux platform.

Do, it Sun. . . you know you want to. . . buy them.

Say Goodbye to 64 bit windows

[asv108]

Because I doubt M$ would honor the 64 bit windows deal if Sun purchased AMD or maybe Sun could use that to pursue more legal manuvering.

Re:Say Goodbye to 64 bit windows

[bstadil]

As you might know there will be no support for x86-64 in the upcoming Windows Server 2003. This was made public here a few days ago.

I find this real hard to understand from a strategic viewpoint. (Maybe they are just late and do not want to hold up 2003). If indeed they have been strongarm'ed (bad joke) or something by Intel. It seems to me they are forcing a Linux / Opteron attack precisely where they want to go themselves. The middle tier server market.

With no immediate support from Windows what other choice is there for AMD than to embrace the only credible OS for their chip, Linux. They want to position Opteron against Xeon but the volume is not there initially so what else can they do than make special deals for Linux based servers. Now, this will hurt Dell as a Intel only supplier. Dell can not afford to loose momentum so either they have to get huge discounts from Intel, or embrace AMD. Either way it's bad long term for both Intel and Microsoft.

Once the middle tier market is gone to linux, they can kiss .Net goodbye. Just look at the Webserver market. No "innovations" from MS, since forever. Why?, because of Apache. They can't find traction for an embrace and extend strategy with 26% share. Same for .Net once the middle tier market is gone.

Not supporting AMD's x86-64 is like trying to corner an amimal thinking it wil not strike back. Strange.

Re:Is it hot in here...

[Raskolnk]

Also, 64 bit chips are not ready for the mainstream market yet. They need more testing, analyzation, and intrepration with an unbiased group of persons as the sample, to make reliable predictions.

Yeah, no one makes 64 bit chips that are ready to use.

Re:But what about the end of Sun?

[afidel]

If you think that Sunfire's and Z series machines are going to disapear from datacenter's during the tenure of anyone reading this you are flying in the face of history. Big dedicated machines that do NOT crash and which have features Intel and AMD servers will still be lusting after in 20 years will probably always have a purpose and a place. This is especially true for the Z series where the people who implement them don't care about the fastest a machine can pump operations out, they care about the slowest something will get done. Trust me your bank wants to know that as long as they have everything setup right that the complex of Z series machines WILL finish computing interest and doing balance transfers before the end of the day. These people would go apeshit if their jobs reacted like an overloaded webserver!