OpenSPARC

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A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH SUN MICROSYSTEMS

The Microelectronics Support Centre at RAL is pleased to announce that EUROPRACTICE and Sun Microsystems have entered into a partnership to make Sun’s OpenSPARC technology available to EUROPRACTICE Members.  A Sun Microsystems press release can be viewed at:  http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2008-11/sunflash.20081105.1.xml

Sun launched the multi-core, Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) revolution in 2005 with the introduction of the UltraSPARC(R) T1 processor, the industry’s first eight-core, 32-thread, general purpose processor.  In 2007, Sun introduced the second generation of CMT processors, the UltraSPARC T2, which doubled the thread count of the UltraSPARC T1, to 64.  The UltraSPARC T2 is also the only true "system on a chip" in its class, combining high compute performance with integrated 10 Gb Ethernet, cryptographic acceleration, floating point units, and PCI-E controllers. Combined with the power of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and Sun's Logical Domains (LDoms) virtualization technology, the UltraSPARC T2 makes it possible to host up to 64 logical domains on a single chip.

OpenSPARC is the open source version of Sun's UltraSPARC T1 and T2 microprocessors which are current commercial chip multi-threaded multi-core microprocessors. It is available for download on www.OpenSPARC.net under GPL2 license.

OVERVIEW MATERIAL

Those that were able to attend the OpenSPARC Workshop in London in early December found it to be a useful and interesting event. For those whose were unable to attend, extensive OpenSPARC overview material is available from the OpenSPARC website.

Topics covered include:

• Chip Multi-Threading (CMT)
• OpenSPARC T1 & T2 Overview
• Simulation
• FPGA implementation
• OpenSPARC applications
• Operating systems support

To view the material please visit: http://www.opensparc.net/publications/presentations/slidecast-all-about-opensparc.html

Registration is required to access the material. Once registered, a pre-recorded slidecast will be available for online viewing, and a copy of the presentations can be downloaded in pdf or openoffice format.

For further information, please contact the EUROPRACTICE Software Service enquiries@msc.rl.ac.uk

The EUROPRACTICE Software Service is managed by the Microelectronics Support Centre, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. You can contact the EUROPRACTICE Software Service by email: enquiries@msc.rl.ac.uk Last modified: April 22, 2009.