Sun Microsystems is launching its new UltraSparc
T1-based servers this week.
Both the Sun Fire T2000 and T1000 use the energy-efficient and
multi-tasking UltraSparc T1 processor, which was previously
code-named “Niagara”.
Each UltraSparc T1 has eight processing cores which can run up
to a total of 32 simultaneous instruction sequences.
The whole chip consumes a maximum of 72 watts, which Sun said is
less than comparable products from Intel. Intel’s Xeon consumes
between 100 and 165 watts.
The new server processor is competing against similar enterprise
processors from IBM, Intel and AMD.
Sun hopes the new processor will help reverse its server sales
decline, which has seen it fall back in terms of market share
against the top three of Hewlett-Packard, Dell and IBM.
The T2000 starts at £4,600 and goes up to £15,300. The 1000 will
arrive in the first quarter of 2006 and will cost between £1,800
and £6,500.
Sun plans to launch a range of new blade servers using the
Ultrasparc T1 next summer, and an upgraded version of the processor
is expected in 2007.