Sun doubles server speed

After cancelling the UltraSparc V, Sun announces on Tuesday the imminent release of the IV+ chip, which should operate at roughly double the speed of current UltraSparc IV servers

Sun Microsystems will detail its high-end UltraSparc IV+ processor Tuesday, a chip code-named "Panther" that will roughly double the speed of servers using the current processor.

Like the current UltraSparc IV, the UltraSparc IV+ will have two processing engines, or cores, on a single slice of silicon. Unlike it, though, Panther will be built with a more advanced manufacturing process that allows more high-speed cache memory and higher clock speeds.

The UltraSparc IV+ is due to arrive in mid-2005, roughly a year after the UltraSparc IV, said Dale Greenley, director of engineering for the new chip. It will run at an initial speed of 1.8GHz -- with models faster than 2GHz planned later -- compared with 1.2GHz for today's fastest UltraSparc IV models, he said.

More info at ZDNet