Sun's T2 chip will have 64 threads......

New UltraSPARC T2 CPU doubles threads from 32 to 64

As more than one energy expert has noted, efficiency plays an enormous part in power consumption, regardless of the context.

Sun’s three-family server strategy fits into this thinking quite well. Based on three separate chip sets designed for particular workloads, use of each member of the family for particular situations can go a long way in reducing power consumption while boosting computational performance.

Sun Fire CoolThreads servers based on UltraSPARC T1 chip multithreading (CMT) processors are ideally suited for massive transactional throughput — making them a perfect fit for managing large numbers of Web-based transactions. In areas that require the industry-standard x86 chip and demand both multithreaded and high floating point performance, AMD Opteron processor-based Sun Fire x64 servers might prove a better choice. And for heavy-duty database applications where single-threaded performance trumps throughput, UltraSPARC IV+-based Sun Enterprise servers deliver the necessary horsepower.

Optimizing each member of the Sun server family for energy efficiency and computational performance is a constant process that has resulted in numerous innovations, with more to follow. A case in point can be found in preparations for rolling out the next-generation UltraSPARC T2 for CoolThreads servers later this year.

This processor will add more functionality to a server line noted for handling heavy traffic, and it will raise the bar for processor efficiency. A brief look at what to expect in UltraSPARC T2 — and how it builds off the success of UltraSPARC T1 — shows how Sun is providing solutions for markets in which performance and power consumption are of prime importance.

Thread Count Doubling Becomes Par for the Course
Just 16 months ago, Sun rolled out the UltraSPARC T1 chip in the new CoolThreads T1000 and T2000 server lines used for Web application tiers. These environments, with their increasing number of transactions, somewhat mirror the way population growth strains scarce resources....

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