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Jonathan Schwartz Shows 32-Way UltraSPARC Chip

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the much-that-is-hidden dept.

Megaslow writes "The latest entry in Jonathan Schwartz's blog has pictures of Sun's Project Niagra chip, with 8 cores * 4 threads per core for a 32-way computer on single chip. He also shows what looks to be a test rig reportedly already up and running Solaris 10."

7 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. solaris fan by BoldAC · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Okay, I am a solaris/sun fan boy. But this sounds like it was crafted by a professional commerical writer...

    Ahhh... to be 38 and be this guy. President of Sun at 38 years old... what a life.


    This is the silicon for our Project Niagara chip: 8 cores * 4 threads per core = a 32-way computer. On a chip.
    And did I mention we have silicon, and not just a JPEG file?
    And I saved the best for last. Are you ready?
    It's already running Solaris. A volume OS that eats threads for lunch, on the world's most advanced massively parallelized silicon.
    That's not just a box.
    That's what we call a system. A system built for internet workloads. Not for the expedience of a press release. And a system that gives customers yet more choice, rather than taking choice away.
    (And before you ask, yes, we are planning a nicer box when we ship :)

    These guys deserve to Microsoft level of success...

    Several of sun gurus have given us suggestions and hints at solaris section of our site. Without their early input and links from within the sun website, we would have never been as successful.

    These guys are trying to do things big and correctly.

    1. Re:solaris fan by AlexTheBeast · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It does read like a commerical... ... a commerical against IBM.


      I'm watching with amusement as IBM prepares to stub its toe with their new, curiously named "OpenPower" low-end boxes.

      Now, I will freely admit I am entirely confused by what they're doing. Why on earth would you ship a proprietary computer that doesn't run your own operating system (AIX)? If I were trying to freak out my installed base, that's exactly what I'd do.

      These guys are attacking IBM (and linux?) directly. The first part of his blog is a calculated attack against IBM--step by step he breaks down IBM's strategy. Just when you are wondering why you ever thought about using IBM, he introduces his new baby. He must have spent hours crafting this blog post.

      Yes, it's a commerical.

      I just can't believe that blog posts are this important now. I remember when we would just finger the inside guys we knew to see the plan. Now, it's been turned around into a commerical like everything else.

  2. Sounds Pretty Bitter by Apple+Acolyte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Schwartz's blog may not be representative of the general corporate attitude at Sun, but he comes across as bitter and even hostile. Perhaps he is just a passionate believer in his company's work, but his whiney tone smacks of unprofessionalism. I'm not particularly well versed on the continuing saga that is Sun, but should not product performance be speaking for itself? In any case, if they have achieved something noteworthy with this "32-way" chip, I hope they figure out a way to make it useful. This MPR Paper on the processor may be of interest to some.

    --
    Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
  3. I'd be ALL SET FOREVER by gunnk · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd be all set FOREVER if I could only get 20 of these! I mean...

    640 Processors should be enough for anyone! :-)

    --
    Life is short: void the warranty.
  4. Re:Hold on... by ban · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Doesn't mean a damn thing unless software is written to take advantage of it. Damn PC developers can't write software to take advantage of HT (with some exceptions, I know), but hopefully this chip's power can be realized fully.

    Why is it that people keep stating that you have to write software that targets HT specifically? This is not true. Any multithreaded application will benefit from it. It is up to the OS to present you with the CPUs, real or virtual.

    Yes, there are specific issues with handover during tight spinloops et.c., but only people writing locking or timing code should have to deal with those issues. Not your average application programmer.

  5. Software licensing by Mark+Round · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What will be interesting is how the software market adjusts to these multi-core processors becoming more widespread and popular (particularly with dual-core Opteron on the way). They're going to have to rethink things a bit with regards per-processor licensing. From what I recall, Oracle (and many others) consider a dual-core processor two separate processors, and charge accordingly. Anyone running one of these chips would then get stung for a 8 (or possibly 32) processor license.

    Perhaps a better solution would be to adopt the approach taken by IDC (which Sun obviously seem quite happy to back) of counting processor sockets, instead of cores.

    Anyone know what other software companies are planning on doing with their per-processor licensing ?

    -Mark

  6. Re:Wow by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I first read the headline, I thought it said "Nigeria" not "Niagra" and all I could think of was what the boot messages would look like....

    I am of great luck that I have found you in my booting time of need. ...
    Before my father passed away he moved 32 MILLION BYTES of CACHE to a daughter board on the pci bus. I have contacted the pci controller, and explained your GRANT request. ...
    I need you to send me a copy of your PID, your UID, your address and your IRQ.

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.