IBM, Sony
Corporation and Toshiba Corporation unveiled for the first time some of the key concepts of
the highly-anticipated advanced microprocessor, code-named Cell, they are jointly developing
for next-generation computing applications, as well as digital consumer
electronics.
The four companies also announced that they would reveal technical
details of Cell at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) to be held from
February 6th to 10th, 2005, in San Francisco.
Specifically, the companies confirmed
that Cell is a multicore chip comprising a 64-bit Power processor core and multiple
synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing. Cell is optimized
for compute-intensive workloads and broadband rich media applications, including computer
entertainment, movies and other forms of digital content.
Other highlights of the
Cell processor design include:
-Multi-thread, multicore
architecture.
-Supports multiple operating systems at the same
time.
-Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion
chips.
-Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.
-Real-time resource
management system for real-time applications.
-On-chip hardware in support of
security system for intellectual property protection.
-Implemented in 90 nanometer
(nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
-Additionally, Cell uses custom circuit
design to increase overall performance, while supporting precise processor clock control to
enable power savings.
IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba will disclose more details about
Cell in four technical papers scheduled for presentation at the International Solid State
Circuits Conference.
Less than four years ago, we embarked on an ambitious
collaborative effort with Sony Group and Toshiba to create a highly-integrated
microprocessor designed to overcome imminent transistor scaling, power and performance
limitations in conventional technologies, said Dr. John E. Kelly III, senior vice president,
IBM. Today, we're revealing just a sampling of what we believe makes the innovative Cell
processor a premiere open platform for next-generation computing and entertainment
products.
Massive and rich content, like multi-channel HD broadcasting programs as
well as mega-pixel digital still/movie images captured by high-resolution CCD/CMOS imagers,
require huge amount of media processing in real-time. In the future, all forms of digital
content will be converged and fused onto the broadband network, and will start to explode,
said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president and COO, Sony Corporation, and president and
Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. To access and/or browse sea of content freely in
real-time, more sophisticated GUI within the 3D world will become the 'key' in the future.
Current PC architecture is nearing its limits, in both processing power and bus bandwidth,
for handling such rich applications.
The progressive breakdown of barriers between
personal computers and digital consumer electronics requires dramatic enhancements in the
capabilities and performance of consumer electronics. The Cell processor meets these
requirements with a multi-processor architecture/design and a structure able to support
high-level media processing. Development of this unsurpassed, high-performance processor is
well under way, carried forward by dedicated teamwork and state-of-the-art expertise from
Toshiba, Sony Group and IBM, said Mr. Masashi Muromachi, Corporate Vice President of Toshiba
Corporation and President & CEO of Toshiba's Semiconductor Company. Today's announcement
shows the substantial progress that has been made in this joint program. Cell will
substantially enhance the performance of broadband-empowered consumer applications, raise
the user-friendliness of services realized through these applications, and facilitate the
use of information-rich media and communications.
Cell provides a breakthrough
solution by adopting flexible parallel and distributed computing architecture consisting of
independent, multi-core floating point processors for rich media processing. With the
capability to support multiple operating systems, Cell can perform both PC/WS operating
systems as well as real-time CE/Game operating systems at the same time. Scalability offered
by Cell can be utilized for broader applications, from small digital CE systems within the
home to other entertainment applications for rendering movies, and to the big science
applications as supercomputers.
A team of engineers from IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba
are collaborating on the design and implementation of Cell which is expected to deliver vast
floating point capabilities, massive data bandwidth and scalable, supercomputer-like
performance. The design work is taking place at a joint development lab the three companies
established in Austin, Texas, after the project was announced in 2001.
IBM plans to
begin pilot production of Cell microprocessors at its 300mm wafer fabrication facility in
East Fishkill, NY during the first half of 2005. The first computing application IBM plans
for Cell is the Cell processor-based workstation it is developing with SCEI.
Sony
Corporation expects to launch home servers for broadband content as well as high-definition
television (HDTV) systems powered by Cell in 2006.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
also expects to launch its next generation computer entertainment system powered by Cell to
revolutionize the experience of computer entertainment.
Toshiba Corporation envisions
diverse applications for Cell and expects to launch its first Cell-based product, a
high-definition television (HDTV), in 2006.
