Sun Microsystems' approach to processor design and manufacture is quite different to that of other companies. While retaining responsibility for the chip design and architecture, the company outsources the expensive manufacturing process to a specialist in order to deliver the benefit of cost-efficiencies realised to its customers.
That's a model that has worked exceptionally well, for Sun and its fabrication partner Texas Instruments (TI). The two are celebrating their 15-year anniversary, highlighting the milestones and future technologies that have made the partnership the world's leader in processor innovation.
Sun and TI's alliance, one of the longest in the technology industry, coincides with the announcement of the roadmap to the UltraSPARC IV by Sun and a strained silicon process by TI - two of the many achievements made possible by the partnership.
"This relationship has allowed both companies to focus their energy on what they do best. For TI, it is developing and manufacturing process technology and for Sun, it is designing and marketing processors," says Tertius Bezuidenhout, national sales engineer manager at Sun Microsystems SA.
While TI applies its aptitude in 64-bit manufacturing to the development of high-speed I/O ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs) and DSP-based product lines, Sun focuses on its core competency of designing systems without having to build and maintain silicon wafer fabrication facilities.
The Sun/TI relationship has led to the design and fabrication of six generations of SPARC processors and several industry firsts, including the first 64-bit microprocessor produced with the 130 nanometer (nm) process. Additionally, Sun and TI are jointly enabling the future of Throughput Computing, Sun's breakthrough strategy for its UltraSPARC roadmap.
Sun/TI partnership milestones:
1988 - Sun/TI relationship founded
1992 - Delivery of SuperSPARC and MicroSPARC 1
1994 - Delivery of SuperSPARC II
1995 - Delivery of UltraSPARC I (first 64-bit SPARC processor)
1997 - Delivery of UltraSPARC II (72-way support)
2000 - UltraSPARC III (106-way support)
2001 - Copper UltraSPARC III
2002 - UltraSPARC III (industry's first 64-bit in 130nm)
2003 - First 64-bit 90nm process samples
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Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer" - has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.
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