Sun Introduces 8-core Processors and Offers T1 Chip Specs

Trying to recover from the share it had lost on the global server market, Sun announced the "eco friendly" servers based on the UltraSparc T1 processor, which uses 8 cores. The new T1000 and T2000 servers can outrun rivals like Intel and IBM, the company says. Also, Sun presented a new open source program that aims to bring Linux and Free BSD on the T1 platform.

The global server market increases, IDC states. But the ones who have the biggest incomes from this growth are IBM, Dell and HP. In the last few years, Sun's share fell with almost 7.6 percent every year.

Every core of the UltraSparc T1 processor runs at 1.2 GHz, a total of 9.6 GHz (eight processing cores). The T1 processor is used in the new Sun Fire T1000 and T2000. The T1000 system is priced at about 3000 USD, and T2000 has an 8000 USD price tag.

Sun also announced that is plans to offer the code source for the UltraSparc T1, aiming at bringing new operating systems on this platform. For now, T1 can only run Solaris 10, but the company hopes to attract Linux and FreeBSD on the T1000 and T2000 systems. Sun officials declared that the project called OpenSparc will be available from the beginning of 2006.