48 core Java Chip in 2007?
Posted by Fraser Campbell Tue, 28 Mar 2006 02:11:00 GMT
Azul Systems claims that they will be shipping 48-core Java chips in 2007. Assuming they maintain similar form factors to their current models (up to 16 sockets) this would mean 768 cores in a single 11U box.
Azul calls their computing approach “Network Attached Processing” (NAP?). It appears that they have a customized JVM which you would install on your traditional application server (AIX, HP-UX, Redhat, SuSE or Solaris). The custom JVM (see their page regarding Azul Virtual Machine) farms out java processes to the NAP transparently, it appears that most (if not all) major java application servers are supported without change.
Another interesting tidbit is that the Azul virtual machine allows 32-bit host environments to use 64-bit addressing, supporting memory heap sizes up to 96 GB - if you’re into that sort of thing.
The new 48-core chip (VEGA 2) will have 812 million transistors and should go GA in 2007. See Azul press release here.
