What are some distinguishing characteristics of OpenSPARC T1 and T2?

 

 

• The premier general-purpose microprocessor designs in the computer industry today
• The only open-source 64-bit processors in the world
• The only open-source Chip Multi-Threaded (CMT) processors in the world
• Modern, real (not “toy”) designs — OpenSPARC can boot real off-the-shelf commercial operating systems (e.g.Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD) and run off-the-shelf application software
• Backed by a growing open-source community (OpenSPARC.net)
• > 14 million lines of code open-sourced!

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What benefits does a Center of Excellence (CoE) provide to a partner university?

 

 

• Early access to Sun Technology (hardware and/or software)
• CoE bestows public recognition within academia—OpenSPARC CoEs are exclusive; we expect only a single-digit number of OpenSPARC Centers of Excellence to be created
• University can leverage its identification as a CoE to help acquire additional funding
• Sun can help “market” the university’s CoE programs
• Equipment grants from Sun and/or additional equipment discounts, sometimes student-support grants
  

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Why does Sun set up Centers of Excellence?

 

 

• Share its technology back with academia (Sun’s roots are open-source! (BSD))
• Catalyze research of interest to Sun
• Increase familiarity of students and faculty with Sun technology
• Use of Sun technology in research and coursework/curriculum
• Publicity
  

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What is available with/for OpenSPARC T1 and T2 (OpenSPARC.net)?

 

 

• Full source code to the UltraSPARC implementation (cores/pipelines/threads: T1=8/8/32, T2 = 8/16/64)
• Full source code to a reduced UltraSPARC T1 implementation (1 core, 1 thread) which has been optimized for synthesisinto FPGAs
• Software tools (compilers, simulators)
• Verfication suite
• UltraSPARC Architecture 2005(2007) specifications, UltraSPARC T1(T2) Implementation Supplements
• Operating systems already ported to work on OpenSPARC:Solaris 10, three distributions of Linux (Ubuntu, Gentoo, ...), and FreeBSD

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How might OpenSPARC be used/leveraged/exploited in academia?

 

 

• As a basis for experimental, specialized processor designs — a few quick examples:
• highly threaded, high-bandwith network processor
• add more FPUs, for highly threaded HPC processing node
• add crytographic processing elements, for high-bandwidth crypto engine
• add coprocessors for specialized functions
• research into optimizing useful work done per watt of power consumed (efficiency)
• computer architecture research — add/remove instructions, new operating modes
• port tools to other hardware and/or OS platforms (x86/x64, Linux, others)
• Platform for compiler research for chip multi-threaded (CMT) target processors
• Starting point for lab courses — a known-good design that can be modified for lab projects in computer architectureor VLSI design courses
• Real-world input to test robustness of CAD tools and simulators developed at university(major industry CAD tool vendors are already doing this)
• Burn derivative processors into FPGAs for quick design iteration or high-speed emulation
• Trigger spin-off/start-up ventures?
• Your own ideas are likely far more creative than the above!
  

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What is expected of an OpenSPARC Center of Excellence? (overview)

 

 

• Use OpenSPARC in curriculum, coursework, labs, and/or research projects(the more students exposed to SPARC and OpenSPARC, the better)
• Inform Sun of status/progress
  

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