08-28-2002, 10:51 PM
The Cell - Power for Playstation 3 and ...more!
The heart of the Playstation3 will be a new chip (or rather chip set) developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM. The companies will collectively invest more than $400 million in the next five years to design a "supercomputer-on-a-chip" for the PS3. The name for this technology is "grid" (formerly called "cell") and appears to be targeted squarely at the possibilities of parallel and distributed computing over the internet. Grid computing is a variation of distributed computing, and presumably involves networked game machines sharing software, processing power and data. Okamoto also said that networking applications including downloadable software would be integral to Sony's Playstation3 console. A recent report (May 5 2002) from the Japanese News Agency Kyodo said that the Playstation 3 would work over superfast fiber optics connections and would be Sony's first console to run games without a digital video disc. Sony also is considering offering the new chip to other companies for use in televisions and electronics equipment, Kyodo said.
Excerpt from an IBM press release:
Code-named "Cell," the new microchips will employ the world's most advanced research technologies and chip-making techniques, including copper wires, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors and low-K dielectric insulation, with features smaller than 0.10 microns -- 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, operate at low power and access the broadband Internet at ultra high speeds. Cell will be designed to deliver "teraflops" of processing power.
The heart of the Playstation3 will be a new chip (or rather chip set) developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM. The companies will collectively invest more than $400 million in the next five years to design a "supercomputer-on-a-chip" for the PS3. The name for this technology is "grid" (formerly called "cell") and appears to be targeted squarely at the possibilities of parallel and distributed computing over the internet. Grid computing is a variation of distributed computing, and presumably involves networked game machines sharing software, processing power and data. Okamoto also said that networking applications including downloadable software would be integral to Sony's Playstation3 console. A recent report (May 5 2002) from the Japanese News Agency Kyodo said that the Playstation 3 would work over superfast fiber optics connections and would be Sony's first console to run games without a digital video disc. Sony also is considering offering the new chip to other companies for use in televisions and electronics equipment, Kyodo said.
Excerpt from an IBM press release:
Code-named "Cell," the new microchips will employ the world's most advanced research technologies and chip-making techniques, including copper wires, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors and low-K dielectric insulation, with features smaller than 0.10 microns -- 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, operate at low power and access the broadband Internet at ultra high speeds. Cell will be designed to deliver "teraflops" of processing power.
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