Vendor Spotlight:

SUN WORKS WITH FUJITSU TO SLATE ROCKS FOR 2008

Sun, in efforts to establish a strong life for its Sparc processors, plans to unveil Rock processor-based servers within four years.

By 2008, the Rock processors will feature chip multi-threading, allowing chips to perform multiple tasks at the same time. It is hoped that Rock will boast speeds 30 times faster than the 2003 1.2 GHz UltraSparc III.

Rocks requires a 65 nanometer process, allowing for more circuits to be placed onto a single silicon chip. Current processors use a manufacturing process with chip features measuring 90 nanometers.

Sun has partnered with Fujitsu to jointly develop and promote Sparc servers. The partnership should help speed Rock's arrival.

Keeping Sparc processors a priority is important for Sun to stay abreast of competition, most notably rival "x86" models like Intel's Xeon or Advanced Micro Devices, Power models from IBM, or Itanium models from Intel and HP. The dot-com bust and recession has given the competition some lead over Sun's efforts.

Like Sun, IBM is planning for the future. Big Blue recently announced a projected 2008 date for its Power7 processor, with a Power7+ upgrade slated for 2009.

Though Sun has grown to accept Xeon and Opteron, the company has established Sparc as a crucial component to its long term server plans.

Sun's resistance to industry conformity has both hurt and helped the company. Its in-house technology and own programming language and Unix version has helped the company stand out among its rivals. But outside trends like x86 processors and Linux have been hard to use with such unique technology.

Dropping work on UltraSparc V and joining with Fujitsu, Sun hopes to use these freed up resources on Rock and associated systems. Rivals have labeled this move as proof of Sun's inability to plan ahead.

Yet some experts believe the pairing with Fujitsu to be beneficial. According to benchmarks, Fujitsu excels at Sparc engineering. And continuing with Rock plans may evidence Sun's ability to stick with important goals and strategies.

Starting in 2006, Sun and Fujitsu will boast a Sparc server line called the Advanced Product Line (APL). Fujitsu's Sparc64 VI, code-named Olympus, will power midrange and high-end systems.

Though the APL partnership doesn't include Rock or Opteron servers, the deal could change over its three- to five-year tenure. The deal could extend to software like Sun's Java Enterprise Server, as well. JES is Sun's server software suite, which currently is priced purely according to how many employees a JES customer has and which Sun is considering releasing as open- source software.

Both companies will benefit from the partnership by sharing revenues from systems sold.

Niagara 2 is also is in development, a processor that, like Rock, will use a 65-nanometer production process.