Sun Rivals Blast SPARCstation 2 in UNIX TODAY!

[Richard Elling]

jcd at dopsa.att.com (Jack C Dixon) quotes from UNIX!Today:

> "Sun Microsystems' competitors showed surprising unanimity in the nature
> of their attacks on the SPARCstation 2 last week, saying that the product
> demonstrates that the SPARC chip has reached its technological limit.

These people had a lot of fun stating that the 40 MHz SPARC was at it's
technological limit.  But what they fail to do is put it in the proper
context.  True, the Cypress CY601 Integer Unit (used in the 4/470, 4/490,
SS-2) peaks at 40 MHz but it is *old* silicon.  These parts have been
available for at least a year and a half.  We are just now beginning to
see the next generation of SPARC chips become available such as the
Solbourne chip used in the S-4000.  As the competition heats up, and we
see more and more clones, the chip manufacturers will rise to meet the
demand of us power hungry users.

Anyway, I thought the article was good for a deep-belly laugh :-)  After
all, they didn't say those nasty things about the SPARC architecture when
the 4/490 came out... maybe because they didn't have a truly competitive
machine at the time?

 Richard Elling                       Manager of Network Support
 Auburn University                    Engineering Administration
 Work: relling at eng.auburn.edu                      (205)844-2280
 Play: relling at cup.portal.com      AMPR.ORG: 44.100.0.72 (KB4HB)