Sun Microsystems has introduced the UltraSPARC T1--formerly known as "Niagara." The high-performance, energy-efficient processor will debut in a new line of Sun Fire servers before the end of 2005. Using patented CoolThreads chip multithreading technology that leverages the threaded nature of Solaris 10 operating system, the chip is the world's first Eco-responsible processor. Research shows that UltraSPARC T1 processor performance could eliminate the number of Web servers in the world by half, slashing power requirements and having the same effect in reducing carbon dioxide emissions as planting one million acres of trees, according to Sun Microsystems.

In an era where most processors use 150 W, each SPARC-based CoolThread processor uses less than half the energy of Intel Xeon or IBM Power processors at just 70 W--consumption closer to that of many household light bulbs. This new processor offers unparalleled transactional throughput and is designed to save customers millions of dollars on skyrocketing data center power, cooling and space costs.

"It's time the technology industry took a stand -- tripling your data center performance shouldn't mean tripling your power bill and needing more coal fired power plants," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer, Sun Microsystems. "It's becoming more obvious by the day that extreme efficiency is good for the environment and good for business--there are proofpoints everywhere, from hybrid auto companies that can't keep up with demand to fuel-efficient aircraft dominating the marketplace. Customers want this same Eco-responsibility in their data centers. Our UltraSPARC T1 systems deliver radical performance improvement, without the sticker shock of energy costs associated with IBM's POWER-based systems."

The UltraSPARC T1 processor features SPARC-based CoolThreads technology and a revolutionary eight cores--each having four threads--for a total of 32 threads that work simultaneously so many tasks are performed in parallel with no waiting. The chip saves energy, while increasing system throughput and employs Sun's radical CMT processor architecture to keep pace with the multithreaded application environment of the Internet.