Tuesday, September 23, 2003
New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board
New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board: "New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board
By JOHN MARKOFF
New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 19 — Written off lately by the computer industry as a has-been, Sun Microsystems may still have a few tricks up its engineers' shirt sleeves.
On Tuesday, Sun researchers plan to report that they have discovered a way to transmit data inside a computer much more quickly than current techniques allow. By placing the edge of one chip directly in contact with its neighbor, it may be possible to move data 60 to 100 times as fast as the present top speeds.
For the computer industry, the advance — if it can be repeated on the assembly line — would be truly revolutionary. It would make obsolete the traditional circuit board constructed of tiny bits of soldered wires between chips, familiar to hobbyists who hand-soldered connections when assembling Heathkit electronic projects.
"It could represent the end of the printed circuit board," said Jim Mitchell, director of Sun Laboratories here. "It makes things way, way faster."
Now, if only they could figure out that the reason their company is going down hill is that their hardware won't run Windows... Too bad.
By JOHN MARKOFF
New Sun Microsystems Chip May Unseat the Circuit Board
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 19 — Written off lately by the computer industry as a has-been, Sun Microsystems may still have a few tricks up its engineers' shirt sleeves.
On Tuesday, Sun researchers plan to report that they have discovered a way to transmit data inside a computer much more quickly than current techniques allow. By placing the edge of one chip directly in contact with its neighbor, it may be possible to move data 60 to 100 times as fast as the present top speeds.
For the computer industry, the advance — if it can be repeated on the assembly line — would be truly revolutionary. It would make obsolete the traditional circuit board constructed of tiny bits of soldered wires between chips, familiar to hobbyists who hand-soldered connections when assembling Heathkit electronic projects.
"It could represent the end of the printed circuit board," said Jim Mitchell, director of Sun Laboratories here. "It makes things way, way faster."
Now, if only they could figure out that the reason their company is going down hill is that their hardware won't run Windows... Too bad.
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