Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 25th Mar 2008 16:33 UTC, submitted by irbis
SUN Microsystems As computers chip continue to decrease in fabrication size, manufacturers such as AMD and Intel are researching new ways to overcome physical barriers. Die size, performance, operating frequency and heat are all major obstacles in the semiconductor industry. Sun Microsystems announced that in partnership with Luxtera, Kotura and Stanford University, it is working on an ambitions project to move data transmissions from electrical signals over copper wires to pulses of light using lasers.
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trembovetski
Member since:
2006-09-30

Why would you have to dump the compatibility? Sun didn't when it introduced the new chips - the apps which worked on Ultra Sparc work just fine on Niagara (and will on Rock).

Dmitri

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andrewg Member since:
2005-07-06

Which is sort of his point is Sun did not have to drop Sparc why would intel have to drop x86?

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Treza Member since:
2006-01-11

Sometimes it is good to try something different, even Intel did try several time to dump the x86 : i432, i860, Itanium, ... with mixed results.

The Sparc is an interesting RISC design, with an original register windowing system.

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