Sun Microsystems will discuss a future high-end processor Wednesday, a chip code-named Rock that will combine features of own designs with technology it acquired from Afara Websystems, sources said.
David Yen, executive vice president of Sun"s Processor and Network Products Group, is expected to discuss the new chip at Sun"s analyst conference in San Francisco.
Sun has talked about the existence of the chip before, but not disclosed its name or provided many details beyond the projection that it will provide 30 times the performance of a 1.2GHz UltraSparc III.
The Rock chips combine technology from Sun"s own MAJC chip with technology from Afara Websystems, which specialized in chips with multiple processor cores on the same slice of silicon, sources said. Sun acquired Afara in 2002.