Oracle is expected to gradually converge its two Unix server families onto its own Sparc processor design. Oracle has announced a batch of servers based on new Sparc processors and in the process has begun an expected shift toward converging its two families of Unix servers onto a single chip architecture.
- Oracle sells two lines of Unix servers, the T-series, based on the Sparc processors it designs in-house, and the higher-end M-series. Oracle announced the first M-series server designed by Oracle and based on one of its own Sparc processors, rather than Fujitsu’s Sparc64 chip.
- Oracle announced five new T-series servers on Tuesday. They’re mid-range systems based on its new Sparc T5 processor, which doubles the core count over the Sparc T4, from eight cores to 16, and boosts the clock-speed, I/O bandwidth and memory bandwidth.
- The new M-series server, called the M5-32, is a high-end SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) machine that will compete against IBM’s Power 795 Unix server.
- The difference between the T5 and M5 processors is that Oracle has removed some of the cores on the M5, which aren’t as useful in SMP systems, and added a much bigger Level 2 cache memory — six times bigger.
- The servers are all general-purpose machines, and Oracle isn’t saying yet when the T5 will find its way into its pre-integrated systems, such as the Exadata Database machine and Sparc SuperCluster.