Sun's CoolThreads Servers Target Next-generation Internet

Sun Microsystems debuted its 9.6 GHz Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers with "CoolThreads" technology aimed at addressing the growing needs of the next-generation Internet.


The servers leverage the new UltraSPARC T1 "Niagara" processor and the threaded nature of the Solaris 10 OS. Sun said its new server line beats the competition on performance, slashing energy consumption and reducing costly datacenter space requirements.


For example, Sun's new systems are more than three times faster than IBM Xeon systems at nearly half the power and cooling costs and with 4.2 times better performance per watt CoolThreads servers also have nearly seven times greater performance than Dell Xeon systems and have 76% more performance at 2.3 times lower power consumption than an IBM 4-way Power 5+ system, while costing nearly half as much.


Sun intends to open source the massively-threaded processor technology to further lower the barriers to innovation and application development.


Sun also introduced a new metric for the next generation of the Internet: the new SWaP (space, wattage and performance) metric that assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of rack-optimized server deployments in a datacenter.


SWaP = Performance/ (Space x Power)


As customers attempt to expand their server capacity to deliver numerous web and application services, they are running out of power and space in the datacenter.


"Sun's innovations are once again at the forefront of driving the industry and the economic reality of building out the next generation Internet," said Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems.
http://www.sun.com