Switch solution

Switch solution

These drawings from Sun Microsystems depict the blade platform (left) and switch system that make up Sun's Constellation System, which launched Monday. Squeezing so many processors into a finite space cuts costs and can increase overall computing firepower. Sun says it can get 6 teraflops, or 6 trillion operations, a second out of a single rack because each rack holds 768 cores.

At right, it's the monster of all switches. This hardware has 3,456 ports on it. Sun played a prominent role in supercomputing (partly thanks to acquisitions) back in the '90s. It then fell back, but with the Constellation System, says it's ready to compete in the supercomputer realm again.

June 25, 2007 9:00 PM PDT

Photo by: Sun Microsystems

 

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