Do you have that choice? I didn't have that choice when you sent it to me. Keith ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 4:14 AM Subject: OT Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board perhaps of some mild, general interest. If not ... I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT. >New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board > >September 22, 2003 > By JOHN MARKOFF > > > > > > >MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 19 - Written off lately by the >computer industry as a has-been, Sun Microsystems may still >have a few tricks up its engineers' shirt sleeves. > >On Tuesday, Sun researchers plan to report that they have >discovered a way to transmit data inside a computer much >more quickly than current techniques allow. By placing the >edge of one chip directly in contact with its neighbor, it >may be possible to move data 60 to 100 times as fast as the >present top speeds. > >For the computer industry, the advance - if it can be >repeated on the assembly line - would be truly >revolutionary. It would make obsolete the traditional >circuit board constructed of tiny bits of soldered wires >between chips, familiar to hobbyists who hand-soldered >connections when assembling Heathkit electronic projects. > >"It could represent the end of the printed circuit board," >said Jim Mitchell, director of Sun Laboratories here. "It >makes things way, way faster." > >Sun, an icon of Silicon Valley, has been losing market >share and laying off thousands of workers as corporate >computing customers turn increasingly to Microsoft and >Intel for their software and hardware. Sun is in desperate >need of a technical advance that can differentiate it from >the others. > >The new technology is being developed as part of a >military-financed supercomputer effort. But Sun executives >said they were seeking ways to find commercial uses quickly >for a future generation of computer systems. > >Sun has not decided whether to license the technology to >other manufacturers or reserve it exclusively for Sun's own >systems, Dr. Mitchell said. Analysts, though, say they >believe that the company is moving toward a more liberal >technology licensing policy. > >"This is a big thought project," said Vernon Turner, vice >president for global enterprise servers at the >International Data Corporation, a market research firm. "It >will give them some leadership if they can pull it off." > >The recent resignation of Sun's co-founder, William Joy, a >leading software designer and developer of the Java >programming language, has been seen as evidence that the >company is struggling to remain innovative. Still, Sun has >maintained its research spending despite corporate >cutbacks. > >The new breakthrough is based on an insight by Ivan E. >Sutherland, a Sun vice president and research fellow who is >a pioneer of modern computing. Dr. Sutherland, 65, was a >co-founder of Evans & Sutherland, an early maker of >high-performance computers. He is also the inventor of >interactive computer graphics. > >In a paper to be presented at the Custom Integrated >Circuits Conference on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif., Dr. >Sutherland, Robert J. Drost and Robert D. Hopkins plan to >report that they were able to send data at a speed of 21.6 >billion bits a second between chips in a scaled-down >version of the new technology. By comparison, an Intel >Pentium 4 processor, the fastest desktop chip, can transmit >about 50 billion bits a second. But when the technology is >used in complete products, the researchers say, they expect >to reach speeds in excess of a trillion bits a second, >which would be about 100 times the limits of today's >technology. > >Currently, computer data is moved in and out of an >integrated circuit through tiny wires soldered to the >surface at special pads that ring the edge of each chip. >While the pads are small, they are vastly larger than the >transistors and wires that make up the chip's circuitry. > >A typical gold or aluminum wire might be 25 microns in >width and soldered to a pad that is 100 microns wide, about >the width of a human hair. Compared with the internal >circuitry, this passageway requires relatively large >amounts of power. Also, the size of the pads and wires >necessarily limits the number there are to ferry >information in and out of the circuit. > >The new Sun chip has tiny transmitters that are only a few >microns in width. In addition to having many more >connecting points, the chip should consume far less power. >The chip's additional channels increase the processing >speed, like adding lanes to a highway; being able to >eliminate the pads is another benefit of the chip's design, >like getting rid of a series of tollbooths. > >Chip-to-chip bottlenecks have long been a vexing challenge >for computer designers, who have explored many ways of >increasing the overall speed of systems that are composed >of hundreds of chips. > >Other potential technologies have included optical lasers >and even the idea of quantum entanglement of electrons, >which holds out the possibility of moving huge amounts of >data instantaneously. > >Transmitting data between chips by placing a transmitter >next to a receiver, along the lines of the Sun design, >employs an effect known as "capacitive coupling" to send >electrical pulses at high speed. The idea came to Dr. >Sutherland when he was visiting Steve Jacobsen, a robotics >expert based in Utah, who has developed a technique for >ultraprecise mechanical alignment. > >This technique might be applied to connect large arrays of >ultrasmall transmitters and receivers, Dr. Sutherland >decided. > >While the concept has yet to be validated fully, Sun >researchers have already received an important vote of >confidence from the Defense Advanced Research Projects >Agency of the Pentagon. > >In July, Sun was a surprise winner of a $49.7 million award >from the agency to work on supercomputer designs. Cray and >I.B.M. also won contracts, but Sun was chosen over two >competitors, Silicon Graphics and Hewlett-Packard. > >The choice of Sun surprised many supercomputing researchers >because both Silicon Graphics and Hewlett-Packard have >larger supercomputer businesses. > >"This is one of those things that could have great >potential if they can work out the details," said William >J. Dally, a professor of electrical engineering and >computer science at Stanford University and a consultant >for Cray on its supercomputer project financed by the >Pentagon agency. > >The Sun technique could pack hundreds of chips in >face-to-face checkerboard fashion far more densely than is >possible today. The technique holds out the hope of >attaining what had been one of Silicon Valley's far-off >dreams: a computer packaging technique known as wafer-scale >integration. > >Today, chips are manufactured in wafers that contain >hundreds of identical circuits. The individual chips are >cut apart and each chip is wired into a separate package. >The chips are then laid out on printed circuit boards and >connected to other packages by wires that are thousands of >times thicker than the chip circuits. > >For decades, computer designers have tried to figure out >how to make computer systems out of single large wafers. >But designers have stumbled over the fact that it is >virtually impossible to create large wafers that are free >of defects. > >Now the Sun researchers may have surmounted the hurdle with >a simple mechanical solution - having a bunch of small >chips work together with the computing properties of a >single wafer. > >"This is a very novel idea that could give you a way to >make a very compact computer," said David Patterson, a >computer scientist at the University of California at >Berkeley who is a Sun consultant. "From the very beginning >people have been making circuits on wafers and then >chopping them up and then wiring them back together again." > > >As a graduate student in the 1970's, Dr. Patterson worked >on a Pentagon-financed wafer-scale integration research >project at Hughes Aircraft. Even though it was not >cost-effective, he said, it was one of the few successful >efforts to build such a computer. > >Since then, the industry has tried unsuccessfully to >commercialize wafer-scale circuits aimed at avoiding >chip-to-chip communication bottlenecks. > >All of them have failed and several have collapsed in >spectacular fashion. Gene M. Amdahl, the designer of >I.B.M.'s 360 mainframe computer, founded Trilogy Systems in >1980 to build an advanced mainframe computer based on >wafer-scale technology. He was able to raise $279 million >from computer partners, venture capitalists and a public >offering, before going under. > >Dr. Sutherland acknowledged that Sun has more to do before >it could determine if its proximity communication >technology was viable. One issue is potential interference >between the tiny transmitters and receivers. A second issue >is cooling. As chips are moved closer together the >challenges in removing heat increase sharply. > >At the same time, Sun's computer designers said they were >optimistic about the technology and were eager to consider >ways of using it in future Sun computers. > >"It's pretty exciting in what it has enabled," said Marc >Tremblay, a Sun microprocessor designer. "As you cross >boundaries between chips, that's where the pipe has been >narrow." > >He said that faster chip-to-chip speeds might also lead to >a rethinking of the internal layout of computers in ways >that would enhance performance even more. > >Dr. Sutherland said that he was uncertain where the new >technology might be applied first commercially, but that >there was already great interest from the company's >computer division. > >"The news we hear from product-land is, `We want this >yesterday,' " he said. > >http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/22/technology/22SUN.html?ex=1065228809&ei=1& en=98818ea3d19c143c > > >--------------------------------- > >Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine >reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! >Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy >now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: > >http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html > > > >HOW TO ADVERTISE >--------------------------------- >For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters >or other creative advertising opportunities with The >New York Times on the Web, please contact >onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media >kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo > >For general information about NYTimes.com, write to >help@nytimes.com. > >Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company Greg Newell Greg's piano Forté mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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