San Jose (CA) - Buried in a press release that touts the availability of a new entry-level T1000 server, Sun indicated that it is preparing mass production of the next-generation UltraSparc T2 CPU, which will be able to process up to 64 threads simultaneously - or up to 256 threads in a four-way server system.
The new processor, code-named Niagara-II, had its first production run in March and apparently showed few bugs, which should allow Sun to clean up the design in a matter of a few months. While the company did not announce any details on a commercial launch date for the CPU, industry sources speculated that Sun will be aiming for an introduction sometime in 2007.
The clock speed of the T2 is still a mystery, but it is expected likely that Sun will not increase the current maximum of 1.2 GHz by much in order to stay in the T1's thermal design envelope of 79 watts. A transition from a 90 to 65 nm structure, however, could enable Sun to bump the clock by a couple hundred MHz without having to adjust the chip's thermal design power rating.
