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CODE-NAMED CELL: The Revolutionary Cell Processorhas arrived

Posted by Matthew Brodsky

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The 2005 International Solid State Circuits Conference in SanFrancisco hit the big time thanks to a revolutionary newmicroprocessor called Cell. For the first time there on February7, the processor's three corporate collaborators - Sony, IBM, andToshiba - released details about their project.

The 2005 International Solid State Circuits Conference in SanFrancisco hit the big time thanks to a revolutionary newmicroprocessor called Cell. For the first time there on February7, the processor's three corporate collaborators - Sony, IBM, andToshiba - released details about their project. The IT industry'santicipation for Cell, "a supercomputer on a chip," had beenboiling over.

After the facts and figures were unveiled, this enthusiasmappeared legitimate. According to press releases from Sony, Toshiba, and IBM, the prototype Cell weighs in with 234 milliontransistors in a tiny 221 square-millimeter space. Estimates havethe microprocessor clocking in at top speeds faster than 4 GHz.That would equal 10-fold the real-time performance of today's PCprocessors.

IBM, Sony, and Toshiba launched the project in March 2001 andhave labored on it since at a joint U.S. design center in Austin,Texas. The Cell undertaking brings IBM's POWER multiprocessingarchitecture, used in their high-end servers, together withSony's experience in the entertainment gaming and computer arenaand Toshiba's expertise in semiconductors. Engineers from thethree top electronics and computing companies manufactured thechip with 90 nanometer SOI technology.

The first practical application of Cell purportedly will be Sony'sPlayStation 3 gaming system, which is due out in 2006. Toshibaintends to also feature the technology in its 2006 lineup ofhigh-definition televisions, while IBM may market aCell-based workstation in 2005.

Cell can power such a broad spectrum of devices thanks to itsunique, multi-core architecture. Current multi-core chips candivvy up one job among its processing units. Cell, on the otherhand, gives multitasking a whole new meaning. Its eightprocessing units, or software cells, can work together to handleseveral jobs. In fact, each software cell can handle a separatejob independently.

The technology's capabilities can be appreciated in its abilityto simultaneously run multiple operating systems, whether theyare PC operating systems (laptops), real-time operating systems for consumer electronics and computer gaming, or outside operating systems used with specific applications. As for compatibility,the manufacturers boast that the microprocessor is operatingsystem neutral.

Within a network, the chip can expand its potential through gridcomputing. Individual software cells can "roam" across thenetwork to other Cell-based devices - in the same office, say, orhalfway across the globe. In this way, one machine taps intounused processing power in other machines, thereby distributingthe burden of an especially strenuous computing task.

Cell also features built-in security measures to protect againstpirating. Application makers will rest assured knowing that thechip can fight off attempts to illegally copy or distributecopyrighted content. Critics, however, contend that this featuremay slow down Cell performance, although this remains to beseen.

Nevertheless, Cell still promises immense upside for rich-mediaand entertainment computing. And it has unlimited potential inthe IT world in general as a challenger to the Intel dynasty. Nowthat Toshiba, Sony, and IBM have let the cat out of the bag, alleyes in the industry will be fixed at IBM's plant in EastFishkill, NY and Sony's factory in Nagasaki, where production onthe microprocessor will begin this year.

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