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High-tech companies that handle millions of online transactions a day
need computers that will carry out those tasks more quickly and
efficiently. In a bid to meet that need, Sun Microsystems (SUNW) on Dec. 6 introduced servers based on its multi-core UltraSparc T1 processor, code-named Niagara.
The tech giant's new line is aimed at helping Web-based businesses handle millions of tasks quickly. Will customers bite?
High-tech companies that handle millions of online transactions a day
need computers that will carry out those tasks more quickly and
efficiently. In a bid to meet that need, Sun Microsystems (SUNW) on Dec. 6 introduced servers based on its multi-core UltraSparc T1 processor, code-named Niagara.
After 18 months of build-up, the machines put Sun at
the cutting edge of one of the chip industry's biggest trends: the use
of so-called multi-core systems. While Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM), and AMD (AMD) have chips that are laid out to create two separate processors, the T1 boasts eight such cores embedded in the circuitry.
each core can process four types of software, that's 32 jobs it can
handle simultaneously -- while consuming far less power than standard
servers require. "The performance numbers look good to me, and the
power consumption is reasonable -- as opposed to unreasonable with many
other servers," says Kevin Krewell, editor of The Microprocessor Report, a trade publication.
FREE LICENSE.
The larger significance, says Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy, is
that the Niagra chip is the first processor designed from the ground up
for the so-called Web 2.0 era, when big corporate IT shops and Net
companies process myriad functions -- be it e-mail, stock trades, or
online auctions -- in an instant.
"Name another chip that was
designed to handle this kind of Web load," says McNealy. "There aren't
any." He claims the chip will operate seven times more efficiently than
rival servers. "I've been in this business for a quarter century, and
most of the time we're fighting for a 5% price-performance advantage.
I've never seen anything like what we're seeing with this box."
At
a Manhattan press conference, Sun announced it would also license the
chip free of charge so other manufacturers could create versions of it
for use in non-Sun servers. The goal: Just as Sun is giving away much
of its software to spur interest from software developers, giving away
this chip design could create a larger market for Sparc-based computers.
NOT BIDDING YET.
These days, Sun needs all the good news it can get. The company's
stock, trading around $4 as of Dec. 6, has barely budged in three
years. Despite massive strategic shifts, it continues to lose share in
the overall server market to larger rivals. Sun also missed Wall
Street's consensus profit estimates by 6% in the most recent quarter
(see BW Online, 12/2/05, "McNealy: Why 'Sun Is Back'").
But
will these Niagara-based servers -- the $3,000 T1000 and the larger
$7,800 T2000 -- be a panacea? Not anytime soon. At least at first,
they're a fit for only a slice of the $50 billion server market. They
handle high-tech busywork like calling up Web pages, but not
computationally intensive jobs like crunching through big databases.
And while executives from eBay (EBAY)
were on hand at the Manhattan press conference to sing the machines'
praises, the online auctioneer hasn't yet committed to actually using
the machines. eBay's Paul Kilmartin, who specializes in hardware
infrastructure, says the servers should be light-years more energy
efficient than other servers. That's a huge advantage, given the high
price of electricity and the difficulty of getting sufficient power
into its sprawling data centers containing tens of thousands of
machines. So how come eBay is still in tire-kicking mode? "We're
getting used to the notion of using them, but we're not going to put a
product in beta in front of millions of consumers," says Kilmartin.
"VIAGRA CHIPS."
Rivals are quick to ladle big helpings of fear, uncertainty, and doubt
onto the new machines. Karl Freund, vice-president of IBM's UNIX server
division, derides the Niagara processor as "Viagra chips. But Viagra
might have more staying power." Freund argues that Niagara lacks enough
on-chip cache memory to handle anything but the simplest jobs -- most
of which are already handled well enough by cheap Linux-based Intel
machines.
"Most data center managers aren't really concerned
about trying out new technologies to replace their Web servers," says
Freund. "Those machines are like the toaster oven of the computer
industry."
And Stephen Dewitt, a former Sun executive who now
runs server startup Azul Systems, says Sun's new servers are "kind of
an evolutionary step forward" but that they don't hold a candle to his
own company's products. Azul makes a new kind of server that crams up
to 24 separate processor cores onto a single chip, three times the
number on the new Sun servers. "Sun is a [product] generation ahead of
[IBM, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Dell (DELL)], but I certainly don't think you can compare it to what we do," says Dewitt.
REVAMPED HARDWARE.
Ever optimistic, McNealy is undeterred by the naysaying. Development of
the machines finished months ahead of schedule, and Sun is "already
making them as fast as we can," McNealy says. He expects to ship 5,000
to 10,000 units this quarter, and says the profits should be goodl.
That's because the machines use the same basic hardware found in the
existing Galaxy line of servers. Many servers require their own
technology from stem to stern.
Customers such as eBay and holders of Sun stock are hoping McNealy's optimism is well founded.
Read original article at: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051207_967710.htm
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