IN THIS ARTICLE    »  Introducing the UltraSPARC T1    »  Infographic: 8x the Work in the Same Time    »  Infographic: Eco-Responsible Computing    »  Design Revolution    »  OpenSPARC    »  A History of Openness    »  "A Historic Step"

Introducing the UltraSPARC T1 Processor

On December 6 2005, Sun Microsystems launched a groundbreaking line of high performance, low power servers based on the industry's first radical chip multithreaded (CMT) processor, the UltraSPARC T1 chip. The T1 is an eight-core design, with each core supporting four threads of execution. To support the massive bandwidth demands created by 32 threads of parallel processing, the T1 incorporates a crossbar switch capable of handling 134 GB/second of traffic between the eight cores and eight banks of on-chip L2 cache (totaling 3 GB), and includes 4 DDR2 memory controllers providing an aggregate off-chip memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/second.

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The CPU Design Revolution

In effect, the T1 design compresses the power of an entire 32-way SMP server into a small, uniprocessor system that fits into a single rack unit (1RU) of space and consumes just 350 watts of electricity. Using industry-standard benchmark comparisons, the new UltraSPARC T1 systems are demonstrably the most powerful single-chip systems ever built, providing as much or more throughput performance than competitive two-chip systems equipped with the latest dual-core processors running at much higher (and more power-intensive) frequencies.

The UltraSPARC T1 processor demonstrates that the old rules about designing a high performance processor simply don't apply anymore. Radical CMT processors represent nothing less than a design revolution, in which lower frequencies can trump higher frequencies, and simple scalar cores are a better investment of design time and chip area than complex superscalar cores.

OpenSPARC: Community Hardware Development

In the same spirit of revolution, Sun also believes the old rules about intellectual property and proprietary advantage no longer apply, either. Software is already far down the road to becoming public, open, and free — including Sun's own OpenSolaris initiative. With the UltraSPARC T1 processor, Sun Microsystems is now taking the steps needed to launch hardware design down the same path.

Specifically, Sun invites the hardware design community to join in the CMT processor design revolution. Within the next few months, as part of a new OpenSPARC initiative, Sun will publicly release all the key information about its UltraSPARC T1 design. This includes RTL Verilog source for the design (available under an OSI-approved source license), a verification suite, simulation models, and source for a Solaris OS port, together with written specifications and other necessary documentation. The Web site, which will join together the worldwide community of hardware developers interested in CMT technology, is already in operation at: http://opensparc.sunsource.net/nonav/index.html.

Whether you are interested in learning more about this new, community-based direction in hardware design, or want to participate in creating the possibilities inherent in OpenSPARC, take a few minutes to visit the Web site. The goals of Sun's new OpenSPARC initiative are simple:

• Significantly increase participation in processor architecture development and application design
• Eliminate many of the barriers to the next big build-out of the Internet
• Improve collaboration and cooperation among hardware designers
• Enable community members to build on proven technology at a markedly lower cost
• Encourage innovation
• Foster bringing bold new products to market

A History of Openness

Sun was founded on the principles of openness, community, and competition. Its early history revolved around commercializing critical new technologies developed elsewhere, like the Stanford University Network (SUN), the Berkeley Software Distribution of UNIX (BSD UNIX), and the Berkeley RISC II processor (SPARC). In return, Sun has freely contributed back to the community many of the key technologies it has developed in house, starting with the Network File System (NFS).

In the words of Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems, "In our 23-year history, we've contributed more code to the open source community than any other organization on earth. Today, we're breaking new ground by extending the open source movement into the IT hardware business and removing the barriers for adoption. We're throwing open the doors of innovation for everyone to participate, fostering new growth and economic opportunity for Sun and the Internet of the future."

Of course, the base SPARC V9 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) implemented by the UltraSPARC T1, as well as the SPARC brand itself, have long been an open standard. This IP is controlled not by Sun, but by an independent governing body, SPARC International (SI), and is freely available to all. Hence, in a way, OpenSPARC is simply the next, logical step in the history of openness and community involvement in hardware design long embodied by SI.

"Sun's open-sourcing of a 64-bit SPARC processor implementation opens SPARC in a new and exciting way and paves the way for the next Internet build-out," said Karen Anaya, CEO, SPARC International. "SPARC International is delighted to see the devoted SPARC community expanding to encompass an even broader range of SPARC implementations."

"A Historic Step"

Software is already open. It is now time for hardware to align itself with the powerful forces that dictate replacing proprietary advantage with community involvement. For Sun Microsystems, it is time for OpenSPARC to take its place alongside OpenSolaris.

"Sun's decision to release Verilog source code for the UltraSPARC hardware design under a free software license is a historic step," said Eben Moglen, founding director of the Software Freedom Law Center. "The future direction of hardware design will be charted through the same principles of deep collaboration and free exchange of ideas that were pioneered by the free software and open source communities. Sun is showing its profound understanding of the forces shaping our technological future in making this decision."

For more information on the UltraSPARC T1 processor, and the Sun Fire T1000 and Sun Fire T2000 systems based on it, please go to http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads